Building Castles in the Sky
by Lucie-Hale1
Summary: Ripped from Natsu's grasp, Lucy wakes up in a prison cell where she soon finds out that she is captive to an ever-growing castle floating in the sky fuelled by the power of stellar mages. Ruled by Seto, a self acclaimed god, with the desire to create a Arian race, Lucy needs to find away to stop Seto without help from Natsu or her guild mates.
1. Chapter 1: Part 1: In the End

**Building Castles in the sky**

**Ripped from Natsu's grasp, Lucy wakes up in a prison cell where she soon finds out that she is captive to an ever-growing castle floating in the sky fuelled by the power of stellar mages. Ruled by Seto, a self acclaimed god, with the desire to create a arian race, Lucy needs to find away to stop Seto without help from Natsu or her guildmates, since they cannot walk on castle grounds without stellar mage power.**

Rated T – M

A/N : A big shout out to all my returning fans and new ones to come. I'm typically a short story writer, but this time I'm trying something a bit different. Inspired by some of my favorite music and short stories, I have made a combination and I hope you like this new style. As always, if you choose to review the story, please keep OCC and Grammar issues out of your description.

Enjoy~!

* * *

**Chapter 1: In the End – Linkin Park**

Fall

The subtle sounds of bricks grinding and metal scrapping, paired with the cool of the concrete floor penetrating Lucy's right cheek, were the first few things to wake the young Celestial Spirit mage.

Letting her brown eyes slowly focus on her surroundings, Lucy realized quickly that she was in a prison cell. Just short of water dripping and rats running around, the cell was not that different from the few cells she had seen before. But this one was different. The cell gave off a different kind of vibe, almost like it was evolving or growing bigger and stronger with each passing second.

Finally pulling herself off the ground, Lucy was soon faced with her body being completely exhausted and weak while she slowly stood up. Placing one of her hands onto her head to ease a headache, it clicked that she had caught the flu or that her magic was dangerously low. Reaching for her keys, she found that they were gone sparked her panic attack.

While frantically searching the dim lit room for answers, Lucy's breathing became more erratic and her vision started to blur. Suddenly, her body dropped onto the cold floor. Winching in pain, Lucy held her head once again and groaned. She needed to calm herself down. Where ever she was, it was clear that her magic was a target and she needed to keep whatever she had left. Rolling onto her back, she started to take deep breaths and tried to piece together her memories that led up to this moment.

Only one memory came up instantly, a dream that kept repeating it's self over the last three weeks about a castle being built in the sky. Lucy could always tell the difference between a dream and reality but for a mage; dreams were very important and sometimes were the subtle hints of the future to come. That's why this dream of all others stood out.

In her dream, white beams shot through the dark grey sky, almost like spotlights searching for its lead role on stage. But something was off with these lights, something far more sinister. As the rain poured down heavily, a flash of lightning shot across the sky illuminating a silhouette of a strange castle that could almost be compared to a ruin of an ancient civilization. A small voice echoed in her head, calling out '_I had to fall, to lose it all._'

Suddenly, everything started to go erratic. Spot lights lit up faces of women with gold, silver and brass keys in their possession, Celestial spirit mages. The voice came back with a haunting ton_e 'In the end, it doesn't even matter.'_

One by one they flickered through until one in particular caught her eye, the face of a woman with blonde hair and brown eyes, 'Momma…' the voice spoke again. Just as quick as the face came into her mind, it was replaced with an image of a person walking in the rain, dressed in white monk robes, and holding a large, orange, paper umbrella. String of beads wrapped around wrist's chimed eerily as the monk stopped to look back. Draped fabrics kept the monks face covered but the eyes were steely, almost as if the monk was in a trance.

Suddenly, lightning once again lit up the sky, showing the silhouette of the castle, but larger and almost complete. The castle was a mix between a medieval ruin, a Victorian home, and a steam punk influence that made the castle look beautiful, yet haunting. With another flash, the castle was replaced by an image of a large circular white room holding a tall red throne. The throne sat in the centre of this room with sections of the floor made entirely from glass and red fabric draped over iron beams that decorated the ceiling. Sitting in the throne was a very handsome man, tall, with short brown hair and light sun kissed blonde streaks through it. He also had a pale almost sickly complexion, and a unique shade of green eyes. A name was whispered through the air, 'Seto.'

Snapping her warm brown eyes open to the sound, Lucy stood up from her bed with cold sweat on her brow. While rubbing her eyes, Lucy instantly noticed her room was quite dark. Looking at her clock, in the hope that she would be able to go back to sleep, she found that it was only early morning. Lucy groaned at herself, knowing she wouldn't be able to sleep anymore. Taking a moment to fully wake herself up, she looked out the window only to be greeted by heavy rain and a dark sky. In that instant lightning flashed and a castle was on full view as it floated in the dark clouds.

Lucy's eyes got big with worry, and with tears on the brink she let out a loud scream only to accidentally fall out of her bed and onto something a bit more soft then hardwood flooring. Hearing a groan that didn't come from her lips, Lucy looked down onto what she fell on only to be welcomed by a shirtless rose-haired man and a blue ball of fur not too far away.

"Lucy? What's wrong? " Natsu, Lucy's best friend and partner, asked through his irritated yawn giving off little interest.

"Do you need to go to the washroom?" Happy asked carelessly as he rolled over.

As her cheeks started to burn up, she soon recalled the small amount of clothing she wore to bed, a set of boy-short panties and a very opaque ruffle baby doll top that left little to the imagination. Looking down at her current position of having the Fire eater's hips in-between her knees, her hands on either side of his head, and her face being inches away from his, Lucy started to panic. Frantically trying to think of a way to get out of the situation before Natsu or Happy was fully aware was a challenge in its self for there was little room to move discreetly. Lucy's train of thought suddenly was interrupted as her body gave off a quiver.

Natsu's finger tips started to brush up her thigh while just catching the hem of her top only to pull it along as it made way to his deep green eyes. Pulling the soft fabric over Lucy's shoulders, Natsu lazily rubbed his eyes when the sudden large clump of soft fabric in his hand caught his attention. Confused, he started to follow the trail of fabric only to witness straps tangled within blonde hair.

"It's tangled." Natsu mentioned to himself as he continued to pull on the fabric.

As Lucy's top was swiftly pulled over her head she let out a loud shriek while she frantically pulled the blanket on top of Natsu's half naked body to cover her own, almost naked, body. Lucy forced her pink haired friend up from the ground and towards her front door, ripping her top away from his hand as she did so, "Natsu! What the hell are you doing, who said you could sleep over? Get out of my room!"

As Lucy pushed her teammate past the threshold, a shiver shot down her spine as a tiny voice was heard from behind the blonde mage.

"Lucy, that wasn't very nice." Happy yawned.

"You too, Happy." Lucy yelled as she booted the cat out the door as well.

Still groggy from his sudden wake-up call, Natsu stretched his arms to crack his shoulders and knuckles into place. After, he took a moment to let everything sink in and deemed it too early for 'games' with Lucy. Dropping his body to the ground with a loud thud, Natsu placed his back against the door and let out a loud yawn as he once again rubbed his eyes whilst Happy curled up beside him on the floor.

As Lucy leaned her back against her door, she slid down and also sat on the floor. Burying her head in her hands, she started to let out a few tears. Knowing Natsu's good hearing, she tried to keep her breathless sobs to herself.

A soft knock came from the opposite side of the divide between the two mages. "Lucy. Was it the nightmare again?"

"I-I dreamt about my mom," Lucy let out quietly not surprised that he could hear her.

A moment went by and another loud display of thunder and lightning shot across her windows. Lucy winced at the display and the memory it brought back to her. Looking at the blanket a little more thoroughly revealed Natsu's scarf partially hidden amongst the folds of the blanket. With a smile, Lucy wrapped the blanket around a little more tightly.

"Natsu?" Lucy asked while playing with the tassels.

"Hmm,"

"Why are castles built in the sky?"

A moment passed.

Natsu tried to make sense of her question when he realized two things: one, it was too early for this kind of conversation and two, every time she had a nightmare she'd ask a silly question. Anymore nightmares and silly questions will make him lose sleep, not that it hasn't already. With a sigh he looked at his exceed friend and decided to answer her question for the first time instead of brushing it off.

"The same reason why a fish builds its nest in a tree. " Natsu replied with a yawn.

With a smile Lucy gave out a small laugh. Pulling herself onto her knees, Lucy reached the door handle and opened the door just enough so she could peak her head out carefully without throwing Natsu off his balance.

Staring at his profile for a moment, the scar on his neck caught her attention. Even though it was faded it was still a sign that Natsu, powerful and reckless as he is, was still human.

"A fish can build a nest in a tree?" she asked as she gently placed the scarf over his thigh.

Looking down at the scarf then to her, Natsu replied, "If castles can be built in the sky, why can't a fish build a nest in a tree?"

"Wouldn't it be great if they did? It make catching them a lot easier," Happy drooled.

As the two exchange soft laughs, Lucy rose to her feet and stated that she was going to take a shower. Leaving the door open, she walked to her washroom.

Later that morning, it was still raining. As the group of friends entered the guild, Lucy shook off her umbrella and placed it in the corner, Natsu shook his hair dry while wringing out his clothes.

"Natsu, I had another umbrella. You should have used it, or at least joined Happy and me under mine."

"I was too busy trying to keep that umbrella from turning inside out, woulda' been much easier without the damn thing."

"Then I'd be all soaked like you are." Lucy commented back gesturing at his soaked clothing.

"One less shower for me," Natsu waved off as he walked past his partner.

"That's so gross." Lucy shivered at the Fire Eaters reply.

"My, my. You two are loud this morning," Mira commented with a giggle as she past Lucy by with drinks in hand.

"Good morning Mira-chan," Lucy replied back with a smile.

After polite conversation, Lucy made her way towards a table where her blunette friend sat looking over a newspaper article. As Lucy sat down, it didn't take long for her to see Levy was worried about something.

"Levy, are you ok?"

"Lu-Chan, Have you seen today's paper?" Levy asked with a bit of concern in her voice.

"No haven't, something good?" Lucy replied light heartedly.

"Well, I'm not sure about good but it is about Celestial Spirit mages," Levy commented while handing Lucy the paper.

The newspaper article was written about a recent discovery within the Celestial Spirit mage community. The article explained that this style of magic was mostly found within female genetics. This is due to the recent discovery of magic, used for summoning, being 10 times stronger with a female host then male. This does not exclude the male gender from being a Celestial mage; it only means that it's not as likely.

The article goes on to explain that in the world of Earthland, every mage is documented one way or another within the magic council, and the registrar. When they become part of a guild or use their first spell, their existence is written down for future reference and is often used to gain an idea of population in the magic community. The records will not show how powerful they are, age, location, or any other identifiable information besides their first name, guild and type of magic. If a mage happens to die, his or her name and information crosses itself from the magic council's books.

While Celestial Spirit mages have been known to be a rare find within the community of mages, records show that there is still a large amount or people using this style of magic. But due to recent findings, the population of Celestial Spirit mages has been decreasing quicker than any other style of mage for the past ten years.

Over thirty Celestial Spirit mages have died in the past fourteen months, leading the registrar to believe that the Celestial Spirit mages are being captured which is causing a rumored extinction of the mage style.

The newspaper goes on to say that if anyone has any information, to please report it as soon as they can.

After reading the paper, Lucy turned a bit paler and her gut feeling was that her dream of the castle had something to do with it.

"Lu-chan?" Levy asked with concern in her voice.

Putting on a fake smile to ease her friend concerns, Lucy spoke, "Wow, there are quite a lot of Celestial mages out there, huh? I didn't know that there was that many so close to us and yet nobody knew any of them."

Levy, not buying her friends charade, looked at the blonde with worried eyes.

"Everything is fine; I just didn't sleep that well last night. But it really is a shock to see that so many Celestial Mages disappearing." Lucy replied.

"You haven't been sleeping well for a while now, Lu-chan. With everything that's going on it might be a good idea to stay away from the job board for a while, just until this gets cleared up."

"But I'm always with Happy and Natsu; nothing will happen if I'm with a group." Lucy replied with a warm smile. "Anyways, I need the money."

"They do seem to always be watching out for you, don't they?" Levy thought out loud as she glanced towards Gajeel.

Looking out the window at the pouring rain, Lucy couldn't help but try to search for the castle. Waiting for the lightning to light up the sky in hopes she'd see the silhouette again was going to be her only proof that she wasn't crazy. Then again, she was crazy for taking a dream this seriously.

"Not the happiest of days isn't it?" Lisanna asked while catching the seat beside Lucy.

"Oh, Lisanna, I didn't see you. Good morning," Lucy replied back.

Lisanna smiled sweetly in return. "Good morning to you. What are we talking about?"

"Oh, Uh-"

"Lu-chan's lack of sleep." Levy cut her friend off with a sly smile.

"Hmm, did you have a bad dream?" Lisanna asked curiously.

With a blush blooming over her face, Lucy replied "Ye-yeah, I think it was about my mom and-"

Lucy stopped to look out the window once again searching for the castle. Deciding to skip the castle part of her dream Lucy continued "It was a rough morning in general. "

"Natsu and Happy have been spending the night at your place a lot more haven't they?" Lisanna asked.

"Sometimes it feels like I only figure it out after I wake up." Lucy sighed as Lisanna giggled in response.

"Huh? What's so funny?" Lucy asked with a questionable glance towards Lisanna.

"Oh nothing, it's just cute. So many years may have passed, but to me he's still the same. When Natsu has something that he can depend on or completely trust, without knowing it; he'll surround himself with it like his scarf." Lisanna smiled as she looked towards the Dragon Slayer's direction.

"I've had a hunch about that for a while." Levy agreed while also looking towards Natsu's direction.

"Wait, I don't understand." Lucy mentioned with a confused tone.

"He likes you, so he feels more 'at home' when you're around." Levy simplified with a smile.

"Eh!" Lucy almost shrieked.

"Well it does make sense doesn't it? Typically he finds job's you'd like or if it's something random, you're the first person he looks for to join him," Levy commented.

"You just agreed that he spends the night at your place a lot," Lisanna chimed in.

"Both of you almost always arrive and usually leave the guild together," Levy also added.

"How do you all know it's not Happy?" Lucy tried to defend herself only to have glares looking back at her.

"Ok, ok I get it but we're only good friends. Don't start getting any stupid ideas." Lucy huffed as she grabbed the news paper off the table and headed towards where Natsu and Happy were sitting.

"What do you think, Levy-chan, denial?" Lisanna asked in a hushed tone.

"Of course, ever since day one they've been together. It's kinda' expected in my books," Levy answered.

"But it does bring on a bit of concern."

"Concern, how?" Levy asked.

"Well, Natsu already lost someone very precious to him, Igneel. From what I'm told when he met Lucy, things slowly became better. It's like he forgot about his dependency on Igneel. What if Lucy was the key for him to come back into a human way of life," Lisanna explained

"That's good isn't it? We all know that he has a special place for Igneel, but if he's coming to terms… No, you think he's changing his dependency to Lucy, don't you?" Levy asked only to receive a short nod with worrisome eyes. "You're giving this too much thought."

In the middle of their conversation, Levy's attention was brought to a loud argument coming from the general area where Lucy headed off to. Taking her leave with a promise of return, Lisanna looked on with worrisome eyes as a loud smack shot through the air.

"Ugh, you're such an idiot!" Lucy shouted out after her attack on Natsu's cheek. "And to think, I put my trust in you."

While throwing the newspaper onto Natsu's lap, the Celestial mage stormed out of the guild to brave the weather without her umbrella.

While Levy made her way over to the group to investigate the sudden outburst, a conversation between Wendy and Happy caught her attention.

"A quest?" Wendy asked.

"Aye, Lucy said that she knows where some mages are being held captive. " Happy stopped to look over at the enraged Dragon Slayer barking angrily at Grey and Gajeel.

"But Natsu called it a stupid idea and what half-rated mage would allow themselves to be captured so easily," Happy whispered sheepishly. "I think he hurt Lucy's feelings."

Just as Levy was about to jump into the conversation, her attention once again was drawn to Erza as she made an appearance into the argument between the three boys.

"How hard is it to eat my triple chocolate fudge cake in peace?" The red-head shouted out as she stormed the argument.

"This early in the morning, she must be crazy for wanting sweets now." Grey whispered to Gajeel who only agreed with a nod.

"What was that?" Erza asked with a death glare at the Ice-Make mage and Iron Dragon Slayer.

"Uh, nothing Erza. Nothing." the two said through their shaky voices.

"As I was saying, the only things stopping me are three morons who can't handle the concept of peace and quiet." Erza scolded the boys only to have Natsu carry on his rage filled argument towards the S-class mage.

"You are an absolute idiot, Even I could hear what you did from across the guild." Erza said with irritation in her voice as she grabbed the newspaper off the table and pointed it towards Natsu. "If you would have read today's paper or at least gave Lucy the chance to explain, you would have found out that many Celestial mages are reported dead or missing." Erza yelled, silencing the hot-headed Dragon Slayer.

Natsu's eyes widened at the news, taking a breath to catch his signature hard glare, he ripped the paper from Erza's armored hand and walked over to the job postings. Snatching a job he was eyeing up previously off the board he then headed towards the main doors.

"Natsu." Levy called out as she stopped him at the doors.

Once again, he glared from the corners of his eyes at the small Solid Script mage, with Gajeel standing close behind.

Looking back down at the little blunette who unknowingly was being watched over, Natsu tried to calm himself. He would never hurt any of his guild mates, especially Levy who had the courage to stop a Dragon Slayer in his tracks. He was sure everyone knew that but the way Gajeel was testing him, as if Natsu would attack at any moment. It made his stomach churn.

"Lu-chan mentioned that her dream was about her mother, as a mage, you should always pay particular attention to your dreams; maybe that's why she is taking this so seriously. Natsu, you remember don't you?" Levy asked in a shy tone as she directed Natsu's attention to the umbrella in her hand as she held it towards him, "how sensitive she is about her mom?"

Natsu's reaction went from realization to sudden disappointment. The look on his face clearly spelt out that he forgot that bit of information.

"I think that's why she gotten so upset, maybe she thinks this dream will lead to her mother. But if it didn't, then maybe she could save lots of mages. The last thing she would want-"

Gajeel cut Levy off to finish her train of thought. "-Is to have her friend, let alone her partner, shoot the idea down without hearing the whole thing through."

Natsu's face became washed over with shame. Even though his guild mates were right, he was still speechless. Reaching for the umbrella Natsu started, "You're both right. I'm-"

"Damn straight the squirt's right! She's probably one of the smartest out of us all. I'm actually insulted that you would even doubt her." Gajeel stated with a strong yet proud voice as he put an arm around Levy's shoulder.

"Gajeel, Natsu never disagreed with me." Levy stated with a blush.

"If your gunna' make a move on Levy, you could have at least been here for conversation," Natsu said with a sly voice while tapping the point of the umbrella against his shoulder.

"Look who's talking, At least I can make a move without insulting anybody." Gajeel growled out as he unknowingly started to tighten his grip on Levy's shoulder.

"Ah, Gajeel." Levy said while wincing in the sudden tightness on her shoulder.

"Who says I was making a move?" Natsu argued back using the umbrella to poke his Iron eating friend on the fore-head.

"Why I otta' rip that smug look right off your ugly face."

"Boys!" Levy shouted out catching their attention.

Both Dragon Slayers looked down at their little friend. Gajeel froze when he saw his own hand around Levy's shoulder. When Gajeel pulled away with a stiff look on his face, Natsu let out a loud laugh.

"Here, hang on to this for me." Natsu smiled as he handed the umbrella back.

"Try to hear things out next time, okay?" Levy returned the smile and nodded her head towards the door.

With another smile, Natsu nodded back in approval and took off after Lucy dreading what he might have to do in order to apologize.


	2. Chapter 2: Without you

**Chapter 2: Without you– David Guetta Ft. Usher **

Moving quickly in the direction Lucy stormed off, which he assumed was in the direction of her apartment, Natsu read over the newspaper as he speed-walked through the town. He was in a rush to catch up with his blonde partner in order to settle whatever happened back at the guild. Tossing the paper into the street garbage bin, he decided to cut through an alley hoping to cut Lucy off on the little canal street.

As his walk turned into a run, Natsu still wasn't 100% sure what caused their conversation evolve into an argument. He knew that they could always talk about anything, they could plan for a job or orchestrate a full on battle strategy, and if they did argue, it would always blow over quickly. But this time, something went wrong.

Piecing everything together inside his head, Natsu now knew that he said something idiotic in reply to Lucy asking him for help. He remembered how awkward the situation was; she talked about a strange kind of job. No, she called it a 'quest'. On top of that, it wasn't even for a reward! She just had a hunch about where some mages were, with no idea on how to get there or even a location to base her hunch off of.

Natsu just rolled his eyes at the memory; if he would have half listened to his partner for another thirty seconds he would have found out that those mages she was talking about were the missing Celestial Spirit mages that he just read in the newspaper.

Now knowing where everything went wrong, he needed to figure out what caused her to bring up this 'quest.' Lucy had been acting different than usual recently but everyone in the guild chalked it up to her lack of sleep and the rainy weather. She didn't want to do much with him and she hadn't been interested in jobs for the past few weeks. Suddenly she was insisting that they take on this 'quest'?

As the Dragon Slayer replayed the conversation over and over, that's when a thought came into his head. '_What were her dreams about?'_

Before the argument, Lucy mentioned some sort of building. Sorting through his memories three things came up instantly. A stupid castle question that Lucy briefly asked him this morning, Levy mentioning Lucy's mother, and finally, the string of nightmares Lucy was having recently. After a few moments of forcefully jogging his memory, Natsu found himself on the little canal with the Celestial mage not much further.

He smiled at the sight as he watched his friend, once again, walking on the edge of the canal as crew members on passing by boats called out 'be careful' as she walked. They would usually receive a smiling face and a waving hand in reply but this time, Lucy didn't smile or wave, she didn't even acknowledge their existence. She just kept to herself and continued to slowly walk down her usual path.

Lucy stopped in her tacks to look up at the sky as if she was searching for something. Using the back of her hand to rub her eyes, Natsu could tell from a distance that she was upset. His heart sank little by little as she continued to walk away.

So many thoughts were running through his head, the one that spoke loudest was screaming that he had been the one to cause this sadness to his close friend. He needed to make up with her so that she'd be happy again.

He looked at the sky; the rain threatened to release a barrage of water down onto the town of Magnolia, but was slowly retreating thanks to the warmth of the sun and its rays that shined through the cracks in between the clouds. '_Castle, mother, nightmare and mages.' _Natsu thought to himself as he continued looking to the sky for answers. '_What was she so upset over?'_

Just then, one of Levy's earlier comments echoed through his head. '_You should always pay particular attention to your dreams_.' Getting a bit more flustered, he looked back at Lucy for a moment longer until realization washed over his face.

'_She's been having dreams about a castle that is in the sky.' _he thought as he took a few small steps down his partner's path.

'_In the newspaper, the missing mages. She must think that they were kidnapped and brought to the castle.'_ Natsu continued to think as his steps started to get larger and larger.

'_In her latest dream, she saw her mother. Lucy thinks her mother is there, with the missing Celestial Spirit mages, alive. That's why she wanted to go on a 'quest'!'_ Natsu finally pieced his information together.

As his steps finally went into a run, Natsu happily called out "Yo, Lucy. I know why you're angry with Me." only to go unnoticed. "Lucy"

As Natsu called out to his friend, he noticed that she was getting dangerously close to the edge of the canal. '_Is she trying to? No, she wouldn't.'_ Natsu instantly thought as he ran faster in hopes of intervening the mage's horrible decision. "Wait!"

Finally closing the gap between the two of them, Natsu grabbed onto Lucy's shoulders and waist pulling her from the canal edge into his chest. Swinging her body around so she now faced the houses while his back was to the canal, Natsu let out a sigh of relief as he unknowingly hugged his friend.

"Pervert!" Lucy screamed out.

"What, Where?" Natsu asked mentally ready for battle until he suddenly took a shot to his gut. Still holding onto his friend as he started to bend over from the pain, Lucy only screamed out again and attacked her 'stalker' three more times until Natsu's grip finally loosened.

"What the hell." Natsu wined in pain.

"Natsu?" Lucy yelled out in surprise. When she spun around quickly to apologize to her teammate for the attack, she accidentally threw Natsu off balance, causing him to fall into the canal.

Covering her mouth in shock, Lucy ran over to the edge looking for a sign that she didn't just murder her partner. Bubbles started to rise to the surface, and it didn't take long for Natsu's pink hair and sour facial expression to pop out, while he gasped for air. Looking back at Lucy, he shouted to her in a rather irritated tone, "What did you do that for? I was trying to save you."

"Save me? From what, tripping over my boots?" Lucy argued back.

"It looked like you were gunna'-" Natsu tried to argue back. Suddenly he started to drown after he was hit with a mini wave that he dramatized as a tidal wave. "Lucy, There is something in here."

Shaking her head at Natsu's overactive imagination, she called out, "This is ridiculous, I'm going home now."

"Lucy!" Natsu called as he swam past the floating garbage and plant life that accumulated in the canal, he spat out some water from his mouth then looked towards Lucy as he grabbed onto the canal edge. "Help me out of here would ya, the sea-weed monster won't let go. I can't use magic in this amount of water."

"You're a Dragon Slayer, I'm sure you can get out of the canal on your own." Lucy called out irritated.

Sighing at her partners over dramatization, Lucy turned around and walked back to the canal edge. Kneeling down so she could reach his arm, Lucy tried to pull him up the canal edge while arguing back, "Geez, Natsu, living with dragons must have made your empathy for humans nonexistent. Ever think that maybe I have a lot of my mind and I wanted to be alone?"

Putting a hand onto the edge as he pulled his body out of the water with Lucy's help, he looked back at her. "Hey, I can handle people just fine."

"Chea' right, only when you're beating them up." Lucy egged on.

"I know why you're angry with me." Natsu shouted out, causing Lucy's heart to skip a beat.

Pulling Natus up so that his knees were just barely keeping his balance on the edge, Lucy looked at him with seriousness in her eyes. "Why?"

"Cause I insulted your mother-"

Cutting Natsu off, Lucy finished "-And my style of magic."

"You didn't tell me anything about your mother being in a castle!" Natsu explained while holding onto Lucy's forearms for support as he shook the water out of his shoes.

"You didn't give me a chance." Lucy argued as she too held onto his arms.

"You should have been clearer, what was I supposed to think when I hear 'let's go on a quest to save some mages in an unknown location'? "Natsu impersonated Lucy's voice. "Who even uses the word 'quest'?"

As their argument increased in volume, locals who happened to be walking past just gave the duo strange looks while whispering amongst themselves. It was a shock that neither Lucy nor Natsu noticed the attention that they drew.

"Why did you even bother coming down here? To insult me or further prove your point?" Lucy commented softly as she avoided eye contact.

Leaving Natsu searching for words, Lucy roughly pulled her arms away only to, once again, cause Natsu's centre of gravity to shift landing him back in the water, "Lucy, This water is gross."

As she took off running for her home, Natsu, just as quick, managed to pull himself out of the canal and chase after her. Forcing her keys into the front door of the house, Lucy quickly locked the door and took off up the stairs to her small apartment. As she locked her front door and a nearby window, Lucy noticed a strange tingling sensation that she always got when a light breeze fluttered into her apartment. Looking at the opening above her bed, which she realized was still open, Lucy quickly took off to close it only to be intercepted by a very angry, and drenched, Fire Eater who single-handily stopped Lucy in the middle of her feeble attempt to keep him out.

"Go away, Natsu!" Lucy forced through her teeth while using all of her strength to close the window.

"Not until I throw you in the canal."

"The first time was an accident." Lucy admitted. "The second time you needed to cool off."

"What?! Cool off, I was trying-"Natsu yelled out as he squeezed through the threshold, while knocking off the pictures and books that decorated the window ceil.

Rolling over Lucy, Natsu bounced off the mattress and onto the floor while managing to pull Lucy and a pillow off the bed with him. As they landed on the floor with a loud thud, similar to that morning, their roles were reversed as Lucy was now at the mercy of her partner. Wincing in pain, Natsu looked down onto his partner and gave a devious smile. Lucy, who was also rubbing her head, looked up just in time to catch the smile and shudder at the thought of what's going through Natsu's head.

As his smile grew more sinister, he pinned her arms down with his legs while pulling his scarf off his neck. Using both hands to hold the scarf, he asked, "Ready to apologize?"

"For what? You're the one who-"

Lucy was cut off as Natsu started to wring his scarf, as the dirty canal water poured onto Lucy's face and chest. Natsu stopped wringing just long enough to see the rage building up in her eyes. Rage that he'd never seen before, he decided to call her bluff and continue the harassment by shaking his hair out, wringing sections of his clothes onto the girl who was pinned in-between his legs and even to an extent of wiping her face off with his scarf while making little comments about how dirty her face is and how she should take care of herself better.

As Natsu finished cleaning her face, he knew he'd gone too far. Remembering some of the moves she was forced to do on Natsu while under the influence of Mr. Cursey, in three swift moves, her pink-haired teammate was off and on the floor staring at her with surprise. Quickly grabbing the nearby pillow, Lucy started to beat her partner so roughly that the pillow itself shredded and millions of feathers floated around the apartment.

Dropping onto her knees, Lucy started to beat against Natsu's chest with as much force as she could muster. Finally slowing down, her soft pants were all that was heard in the apartment as she rested her head against his collar bone.

Gently taking hold of Lucy's wrists, the so called 'brave' dragon slayer nervously looked around the room in hopes to find inspiration to form a sentence so Lucy would smile again. Finally, he leaned into her ear so the whole world wouldn't hear him and whispered, "I-I wanted to find you so. I could tell you-" Natsu stuttered, "-sorry; I didn't know that you connected your nightmares to the missing mages."

Lucy shot a look at the embarrassed male who refused to make eye contact with her. Smiling at his gesture and knowing that it was out of character of him to apologize, made her proud at the strength of their bond.

As their conversation continued, Lucy finally explained that every night she was having dreams about a castle fuelled by mages. She knew her mother was dead, but if Lucy was dreaming of her, then she must be trying to say something. When she read about the missing mages in the paper, things started to connect themselves to the point where she wanted to start looking.

"I'm sorry too, for not saying anything before." Lucy said calmly.

"Why didn't you?" Natsu asked with concern written on his face.

"Well, I tried to tell Levy and Lisanna this morning." Lucy confessed, "But I didn't think anyone would actually believe-"

Cutting Lucy off, Natsu happily explained, "You belong to a family of mages, who else would understand better?"

"But, Natsu, I- I'm actually seeing the castle." Lucy admitted.

"Huh? You knew the location all along?" Natsu asked. He changed his position as he grew more interested.

"Well, not really. I thought my mind was playing tricks on me." Lucy looked away with embarrassment.

"Can you see it now? Where is it? Point it out." Natsu demanded with an upbeat voice as he looked around the room.

Lucy shot her eyes in the direction of the sky and sheepishly looked away again, leaving Natsu to ask, "It's in the sky. Is that why you are always so clueless these days?"

"Clueless?" Lucy barked back.

"Natsu means day dreaming." a voice answered.

"Happy!" Natsu called out to his friend.

Looking towards the half opened window, the blue furred exceed flew through and landed on his 'father's' head with a bounce. "Nay, Natsu, why do you smell like fish?" Happy giggled.

"I don't smell like fish, maybe a sea-weed monster?" Natsu argued back.

Happy looked around the room. "Why is Lucy's room trying to cosplay a chicken?"

"Cosplaying a chicken?" Lucy asked with a tinge of anger in her voice. "I hate you both."

"O-oi, why are you-"

Lucy cut Natsu off with, "My room is a cosplaying chicken, I smell like a sea-weed monster, I'm behind in rent, I never get my home to myself with the two of you always sleeping over every night and even if I do get a night to myself, I always have bad dreams that wakes me up at a ridiculous time."

"Don't be stupid Lucy," Natsu replied. "You can sweep the floors, go on jobs and you always smell pretty."

"Aye, sir!"

Lucy stopped in her tracks to look at her partner who was twirling a feather on his finger tip. Natsu continued with a more serious tone. "Anyways, it's just easier to sleep with someone next to me cause' I can't rest or fight, without you." When Natsu realized what he just said, both Lucy and him started to glow a faint shade of red as Natsu tried to correct himself. "I mean-"

Happy quickly overlooked the statement and continued, "Lucy, if you do have bad dreams, it's good that we are here so you have someone to make sure it will all be okay."

Looking at both of the humans for a response, Happy continued. "Nay, why is everyone red? Can I be red too?"

Still with the faint blush on her cheeks, Lucy laughed at Happy's request and smiled warmly. "Thanks."

After the team swept Lucy's small apartment and showered, Lucy served tea and cookies. Natsu pulled out a water stained sheet of paper that caught his interest while he was at the guild. It was a job that he knew Lucy would like because of three things. The job was decent, it wouldn't take much time to complete, and it was easy money, more than enough to cover her rent.

Natsu explained that the job was a 'body guard' type of deal. They were to protect a high ranking monk from pick-pockets, bandits, and other obstacles while escorting him back to his home temple. The rendezvous point was to be in front of a shrine in the middle of the small Shirotsume village. They would then take a mountain pass to get to the southern outskirts of Worth Woodsea where the temple was located. This particular mountain pass is a known pilgrim passage for all monks; thus the reason for taking the longer rout to the temple.

"It's a three day trip if we leave tonight," Natsu finished.

"We just need to tell Mira then we can go." Happy added.

"Wow, escorting a high ranked monk. That will be amazing." Lucy fantasized about the job."Wonder why he'd want protection? monks from the northern temples are known for their extreme self defense and aerial attacks."

"Maybe he's older then gramps." Natsu said bluntly.

"Natsu, we haven't even met him yet." Lucy barked.

Playful banter and laughter was heard throughout the apartment, filling the air with the warm embrace of friendship. Natsu and Happy left first to do their packing and promised to meet Lucy in front of the guild within an hour. As Lucy started to pack her day bag with the amenities that they would need, she placed her 'overdue' notice on her table to act as a reminder, this way when she came home from the job, she'd be forced to pay the rent before she could spend her money on anything else.

Closing her windows and locking them, then straightening her room up a little bit more, she finally started for her front door. Picking up her small back pack and taking one last look at her apartment, she closed her front door and locked up for, what she would later realize, the last time.


	3. Chapter 3: Both of Us

**Chapter 3: Both of Us– B.O.B ft Taylor Swift**

As Lucy sat on a bench just outside the guild, she looked up to the sky. Once again the thoughts of a castle being built within the rainy clouds made her question not only the idea of building a castle in the sky, but her sanity as well. On top of that there were so many faces that she saw, faces of mages, monks, princes and her mother. This was all getting annoying and she started to dislike the topic the more she thought about it, but she could not think of an explanation to satisfy her urgency to understand her dreams.

Lucy sighed to her self. "All this dreaming about castles and princes are meant for fairy tales."

Seeing the skies clear and vibrant was a welcome change from its twin of clouds and grey. Even with the dramatic difference in atmosphere, Lucy unknowingly developed a habit of looking up and losing her self in a memory of a dream.

Once again catching her self thinking about the impossible, Lucy changed her train of thought and took in the beautiful ending to the day. The autumn sun was warm on her skin as it started to set in the bright orange sky, the breeze trailed lightly through her blonde hair, and the noises of nature buzzing in her ear were just some of the many things that created this soothing moment. It was nice to take in the simple things; Lucy knew that her life had become too complicated all because of her latest obsession, reading into her dreams.

Lucy contemplated moving on from her dream but what stopped her was the mages. Lucy wasn't 100% sure about the connection to the mages and her dream, but if there were lives on the line, how could she turn a blind eye. She needed help, but Lucy was worried what her friends would think of her. After all it was hard enough keeping all this away from Natsu, but who could understand?

'…_Who else would understand better?'_ Natsu's voice rang in her head when he told her a short while ago that she belong to a family of mages.

Natsu was right that she did belong to a family of mages, but she wasn't just telling mages about her dreams, she was telling her friends. Lucy sighed at herself. "Some fairy tale this is turning out to be. I haven't even dreamt my 'hero' yet"

"Lucy." Natsu called out from a distance waving a hand happily at his partner.

'_But if my dreams are coming true and if whatever's in the sky is supposed to be my castle_.' Lucy thought to her self '_Who would play the 'hero'?_'

While watching Natsu walking closer to where she was sitting, the setting sun left a glow about him that Lucy couldn't help but stare at. While he walked with his hands in pockets the slight breeze playfully entangled its self in the hem of his coat and in the tips of his unique coloured hair. The tassels of his scarf dance around his strong chest while slight jingles would ring from his pack with each step he took. Natsu's tattoo blazed in the sunlight, the red was always vibrant against his sun kissed skin, but something about this light and this moment that made him almost shine… A smile broke out on her face. '_Natsu. No! What a ridiculous thought.'_

The thought was ridiculous because Lucy knew that her team mate would drop everything for anyone of his friends; he already was a hero in her eyes but he wasn't her hero. Her hero would be everything Natsu is but he'd also do it because he loved her, not because it was the right thing to do and Natsu didn't love her, He didn't love anyone but Igneel. But at the end of the day this was reality, she would always be the damsel and he would always the hero. For once she would like to save him.

"I wish I was strong enough to lift not one, but both of us. "

Caught up in the moment, Lucy continued to examine her friend from afar. Something was different then what she is used to seeing while they are in the guild. He was growing taller, he looked stronger, and he was becoming tamed and as of right now, when she looked at him, her stomach was starting to flutter and her heart was starting to race. Why was she noticing all of this now?

Blushing to her sudden thought of Natsu, Lucy tried to change the topic in her head by asking "Uh, Natsu, where's Happy?"

"Oh, we ran into Wendy and Carla. Happy wanted to walk them back to Fairy Hills," Natsu replied while adjusting his bag at it hung off of his shoulder.

Tilting his head to get a better look at Lucy, Natsu asked "Why are you all red? Are you feeling ok?"

"They're starting to get along better now. Don't ya' think?" Lucy ignored the question.

"What? Happy and Wendy were always friendly to each other," Natsu asked with a confused tone. "You're not thinking that they should do the same kinda' stuff you do. What are they called? It sounds like a fruit," Natsu tried to recall.

"You think they should date! "Lucy shrieked as she pictured the two on their first date "That's so wrong; It almost feels dirty thinking about it."

"Hey, you suggested it." Natsu argued back nonchalantly replied as he headed towards the guild's main doors "Let's go check in with Mira before she leaves. Happy said he'd meet us at the train station."

"You are the worst." Lucy mentioned as she followed Natsu towards the door. "He's defiantly not my 'hero' that's for sure." Lucy muttered under her breath.

"Oh, wait." Natsu stopped and started to dig in his bag while pulling out a strange twisted purplish-blue glass bottle, Lucy noticed that it was filled with a strange foggy grey liquid. Pushing to bottle into Lucy's hands, Natsu smiled and continued to the doors.

"H-hey, what is this?" Lucy stuttered at Natsu's sudden generosity.

"It's supposed to bring you luck if you drink it." Natsu replied while walking backwards towards the guild.

Lucy was sceptical as she investigated the bottle closer. "It looks as if it expired three years ago. You can't drink this."

Lucy never believed in superstitious things. But she always had a soft spot for 'luck'. "You sure it won't kill me? It doesn't look very good." Lucy mentioned while studying the bottle to see there was no opening, only a cork trapped in a case of purple glass.

"Wait, Natsu. How do you even open it?" Lucy asked as she quickly caught up to Natsu.

"You'll really drink it?" Natsu asked happily leaving Lucy to hesitate with her answer.

Placing his hand onto the neck of the bottle while his palm grew red, he used the cork that was inside the neck to help re-shaped the opening to create a spout. Handing the bottle back to the blonde, Natsu motioned that the bottle was cool enough to drink out of.

Lucy hesitated, but with Natsu sudden generosity he must still feel bad for this morning and maybe this was his way to make up for it. Lucy took a breath and pulled the cork out. Smelling the liquid from the neck of the bottle, there was no distinctive smell. It was almost like water, regular water. Going against her instincts, Lucy put the spout onto her lips and started to pour the liquid into her mouth.

As soon as the liquid hit her lips, Lucy knew something was wrong. While it started to wash down her throat, Lucy stopped drinking and fought with her self not to spit the disgusting liquid out of her mouth.

"What the hell is this? It takes like mud mixed with fish and swamp water." Lucy yelled out as she walked beside the Dragon Slayer with an iron stomach.

"Great isn't it?" Natsu nodded in approval.

"Have you even tried this? It's disgusting. "

"Course' I tried it, Igneel gave me a few bottles back when we lived by the ocean."

Lucy's face went sour, "Back when you lived by the ocean." Putting her hand to her lips, Lucy forced the bottle back into Natsu's hand while trying to keep the liquid she just drank down.

Natsu jus looked at her curiously, "Maybe it's not meant for Celestial Spirit mages."

"Or maybe it's not meant for human consumption." Lucy grumbled to herself.

Giving Lucy a look, he took the bottle and drank a bit of the liquid. With a smile, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, "Tastes just like I remember."

"You're too much sometimes, Natsu." Lucy mentioned as she brushed her shoulder against his arm playfully.

In that moment that Natsu looked down at Lucy, he didn't understand how in this light of the setting sun he could be so drawn to her. Her blonde hair shined as the breeze flew through it while her big brown eyes filled him with warmth when ever he looked into them. The rosy colour on her cheeks and the soft pink on her lips the change in her scent.

Something about her right now was almost irresistible.

He's noticed that Lucy was getting stronger in her magic and she was almost growing up. Not in how she talked, but how she looked. She was also seeing things differently then what she used to and her body was becoming different. Her actions weren't that of a teenager anymore and she was starting to become more secretive.

When the porcelain skin on her slim hand touched his as she pushed the bottle back into his grasp mentioning something about how he needed the luck more then she did, Natsu felt something shoot though his body that made his heart start to race. He could see that she was talking to him, but he didn't bother to listen. The only thing he wanted was to know why he was feeling like this.

"Natsu, you're turning red." Lucy's voice cut through his thoughts.

Grabbing the bottle, he downed the liquid and quickly started for the doors.

Turning red? Was he seriously turning red at the thought of her? no, that can't be. Lucy is his guild mate, partner and best friend. Friends and partners don't get 'red' while thinking about their each other.

Making his way through the maze of tables to give him time to cool down, he approached the bar where Mira was putting away several goblets. Forcing the bottle onto the counter, Natsu announced that they were taking the 'monk job' and turned to walk out of the guild.

"Sorry Mira-chan. I don't know what's gotten into him." Lucy said as she watched the Dragon Slayer trip over a stool and fall on his face. "So much for luck, I told you that drink wasn't any good!" Lucy called out only to have Natsu pick him self up and continue for the door.

"Drink?" Mira asked.

Lucy gestured to the bottle as it glittered in the sunlight. Mira picked up the bottle and gave it a once over then smiled with result. "Its pretty isn't it?"

"Lucy, Hurry up." Natsu's loud voice called out.

Lucy rolled her eyes at the command. "Well, were off! See you in three days Mira-chan."

"Be safe." Mira replied as she started to move the bottle into the garbage.

Lucy watched as Mira was moving the bottle, quickly Lucy asked "Do you mind if I keep that?"

Mira smiled. She filled the bottle with water and emptied it out in hopes that she cleaned the previous solution out well enough that it won't make a mess. Handing the bottle back over to Lucy, the young mage placed the cork back onto the neck of the bottle and shoved it into her bag.

As Lucy once again said her goodbye, she ran for the doors and then for Natsu who was already walking ahead of her. As she caught up to her partner, the two took off running for the train station. Also running late, Happy caught up with them halfway.

As they walked on, the train sounded its horn and started to move. Natsu instantly remembered that nobody had any spells to ward off travel sickness and as a result, he started to collapse. Lucy managed to catch him before he fell to the ground but was caught off guard about how much heavier he'd gotten. Forcing him onto her back, Lucy practically dragged the Fire Eater to their seats where she lay him down.

Shoving their bags away, Lucy took the seat across from Natsu and watched as the little blue exceed crawl around the cabin. They were fortunate to get a whole train car to them selves with the exception to one or two other passengers. One of the perks about traveling at night Lucy thought.

Looking up at the now night sky, the wisps of clouds started to play tricks on Lucy's overactive mind. Naturally the wisps would create shapes of castles.

"Quit-thinking-about it," Natsu's voice broke the silence by hitting her knee with his hand.

Lucy quickly looked back at her partner who was clearly in discomfort. There wasn't a point trying to carry on a conversation with him. In reply she just nodded, pulled a blanket out of her bag and lay onto her side so she faced Natsu on the seat. Another perk about traveling at night was that even though the train wasn't direct, their stop was the very last one so she could sleep without the fear of missing the stop.

Happy flew over and curled him self against Lucy's stomach and thighs. "Don't worry Lucy, Natsu may be useless but I'll watch out for you."

Lucy smiled at her friend. "Thanks Happy."

Taking another look at Natsu, Lucy noticed how his body draped over the seat, the soft inhales and exhales passing through his lips, the rise and fall of is chest, the rough skin on his hands, and how vulnerable he looked were all factors that made the heat rise to her cheeks again. But right now Lucy didn't notice for she was distracted with the many details she never saw in her partner until now.

"Someday, I will be strong enough to lift not one but both of us up." Lucy said quietly to her self.

The train rocked as it made the journey to Shirotsume village while the team managed to fall asleep to the sounds of the wind blowing into the cracks of the windows and the loud ticking of the wheels on the rails. Even Natsu managed to find peace within his biggest weakness of traveling sickness.

As the sun started to shine through their windows, Natsu was the first to wake up. It was a long night for him, with all the stops the train made, but at least it gave him temporary relief until he was forced back into the dizzying world of travel sickness. He made a mental note to figure out a way to learn Wendy's travel sickness spell, Troia, even if it was Sky Dragon Slayer magic.

Natsu looked over to his partner, he knew she had another bad dream last night and he didn't like that she tried to hide it. Lucy recently got into a habit of keeping things from not just him, but her friends as well.

They were her friends, weren't they? Shouldn't she know that he'd protect her from anything?

As her warm brown eyes started to flutter open, Natsu tried to look away but couldn't. Why was he so interested in her? The sunlight poured onto her body and as she sat up, she stretched her long arms up above her head. Letting one hand trail down her right side, a smile bloomed across her face when her fingers touched the key holster. '_Does she smile like that when she sees me?_' he thought to himself.

She rubbed one of her eyes with the base of her hand while the loose sleeve of her top fell exposing the soft skin while her hair, which was a mess but some how suited her, fell around her delicate shoulders. The loose sweater she was wearing was almost sheer in the sunlight that Natsu could see Lucy's silhouette through the loose weaves when she stretched again.

Natsu could feel the heat on his cheeks again. '_Damn it! Not again._' he thought to himself as he forced him self to look away.

Closing his eyes in hopes that he can pretend to sleep, all he could see was a picture of Lucy. Groaning again, he heard her voice call to him "Not too much farther, Natsu. We're almost there I see the village."

'_Thank god._'


	4. Chapter 4: It Will Rain

**Chapter 4: It Will Rain****– Bruno Mars**

A loud steam whistle blew, and the train slowly came to a stop in the small town station. Lucy pulled her window down and embraced the fresh mountain air that welcomed her in a gust of wind. As she popped her head to look out the window and let her hair blow, she took in the familiar sights of old clock towers, cozy homes and nearby mountains. The memories of this town came flooding into her mind which she couldn't help but remember her first few adventure with Natsu and Happy.

"Natsu, remember the mission in this town where I was forced to be dressed as a maid." Lucy smiled to herself and looked back at her swollen cheek friend looking a bit more sick then usual.

Once Natsu found his bearings, the team made their way into the town's market place where the lookout for the small shrine, which was known as the rendezvous point, commenced. Since it was so early in the morning, there weren't many people out on the streets but bakers, farmers and fishermen setting up their small stalls for their pending customers.

As Lucy paid for her goods in one of the stalls, she caught up to Natsu and Happy studying the homes and streets for a landmark as to where the shrine might be. Reaching into her bag, Lucy pulled out a piece of ginger; smiling as she handed it to Natsu.

"What's that? Doesn't smell good," Natsu whined.

"Its ginger, it will help get rid of your 'post-motion sickness' if you eat it," Lucy explained as she placed the root into Natsu's hand only to receive a disgusted facial expression. "It's spicy." Lucy continued in hopes to peak his interest.

"I'll pass on your healthy junk." Natsu waved off the root as he forced it back into her hands. "But I will take this…" Natsu continued as he reached into her bag and pulled out a loaf of sweet bread.

Natsu smelt the bread and smiled at how accurate his sense of smell was. Un-wrapping the loaf, he started to devour the bread while he continued to walk down the small dirt road leaving Lucy ready for a fight.

Before she had time to argue, Happy bounced on her shoulder. "Lucy! What did you get me?"

"Oh, uh, the shop keeper said that this kind of fish you can only get on the outskirts of Worth Woodsea," Lucy mentioned as she pulled a colourful fish out of its craft-paper packaging.

"Ooo… I never had this kind of fish before!" Happy commented as he looked at the fish and started to gobble it down mid flight. "Mmm, Lucy. This is a good fish!"

Lucy smiled; at least one male liked her gift. Choosing to ignore Natsu steeling her snack, she placed the bag of food into her pack and continued to walk through the marketplace.

As the leaves started to rustle and detach themselves from their secure branches to dance in the cool fall wind, Lucy pulled her sweater closer around her neck and mentally wished that she'd brought warmer clothes. Even if it were classified as an easy job, it would be foolish to summon Horologium right now. All Lucy could think of was her lack in magic, attack and defence skills. Nobody ever looked down on her or gave her a hard time, but since there were Mages within her style of magic suddenly disappearing, Lucy wanted to save up for when it would really be needed and grow stronger just like Natsu. But, naturally, that didn't help to stop her from currently shivering in the wind.

Choosing to walk behind Happy and Natsu so they couldn't see her poor start to the job, Lucy took notice that as usual, Natsu chose to wear his black single sleeve jacket that showed off the Fairy Tail tattoo, followed by the white knee high pants, sandals and of course his white scarf.

Turning green with envy at how he managed to keep warm all the time, Lucy finally asked, "Natsu, how are you not cold?"

"Cause' Lucy, Natsu heats his skin when he gets cold." Happy answered as he looked over his shoulder. "Are you cold?"

"Heats his skin?" Lucy repeated with confusion changing the subject. "Hey, was that why you weren't cold when we went looking for Macao years ago? Or when we hunted down that stupid herb for the bingo contest?"

Looking over his shoulder, Natsu replied with a wink and a smile, "My style of magic is pretty awesome isn't it?"

"So you cheat." Lucy said with an unimpressed voice.

"It's not cheating when you know how to use your magic properly." Natsu argued back.

"Is cheating a trait of all Dragon Slayers?" Lucy replied again which set her partner off on a small tangent.

While Lucy smiled and laughed at her partner, she realized that he was right. Things are easier when you understand and can fully control your magic. Lucy, up to a few days ago, was the only Celestial mage, besides Angel, which she knew of. This isn't much help when you want to advance your skills.

As his argument came to a stop, Natsu held his hand up with a devious smirk. Gesturing with his eyes for Lucy to touch his hand, Lucy slowly started to raise her hand when Natsu interrupted the motion by quickly matching his hand with hers.

His hand was calloused and rough to the touch, it was also so much larger then hers making her hand look like a child's. Seeing the significant difference between the two hands made Lucy think that even though their bodies missed seven years of life, Natsu's body was quickly making up for lost time.

Lucy quickly shook her self back into reality and quickly caught her composure, so what if they were growing up, they'd still be friends and partners. Lucy's train of thought was interrupted when the feeling of heat from his body exuded into her hand, Lucy looked up at Natsu with not so impressed eyes.

"What?" Natsu asked with a confused tone

"It doesn't surprise me that your hand is warm." Lucy spoke with a hint for boredom.

A grunt of determination, Natsu quickly laced his fingers with Lucy's that caused a faint blush to bloom on her cheeks. Lucy once again, tried to catch her composure with a reply about how his magic is lacking in 'awesomeness' when just as suddenly as his fingers locked with hers did his body heat drastically change. The heat started to rise and fill her body with warmth that could only be described as 'His'. Studying his skin closer, Lucy could see small flame heads scattering across his skin not only on his hands but his arm, neck and jaw line.

Natsu's onyx-green eyes studied Lucy's face; he was satisfied with Lucy's sudden confused look. Her eyes darted between him and their hands while her free hand raked her scalp pulling her blond hair back. With each stroke, her scent became that much more intoxicating and a strange feeling developed deep inside him.

"They liiiike each other." Happy snickered.

"No we don't!" Lucy and Natsu shouted in unison as they instantly pulled away from each other.

"Told ya' my style is awesome, it's not just for attacking ya'know. " Natsu replied quickly while walking away from his partner.

Feeling a rush of warmth coursing through her body, Lucy shirked out "D-did you just transfer heat into my body?"

Ignoring his partners' cries, Natsu continued to walk away leaving Lucy dumbfounded and thinking to her self '_How does he not go through all of his clothes_.'

Lucy did admit that she was warmer now, and she was impressed with his display of control over his magic. She wished she had that kind of control over her own magic. She frowned at the memory of still having issues with Aquarius.

Patting her key holster proudly which jingled in reply, Lucy smiled while continuing to walk closely behind Natsu and Happy.

"Natsu, is that the shrine?" Happy pointed to the side of a small shrine.

The mini stone shrine was weather beaten and had a moss covered roof. It stood on a rock platform with several steps that lead up to it and two large stone garden lanterns on either side. The shrine it self was in Shinto fashion that was located in between several large trees.

"That must be it, good job Happy." Natsu replied as he crossed his arms relived that they found the rendezvous point. "Looks kinda' old and worn out."

Noticing that no monk stood near the shrine, Natsu put his nose to the air as he walked around the shine.. "Don't smell or hear anyone either."

"I'll fly around and see if anyone is near by," Happy commented as he took to the skies.

Lucy started to climb the stone steps and bowed when she reached the front of the small white-grey shrine. She made a silent prayer to the gods to watch over her parents now that they are no longer of this world. She also prayed for protection over her friends, for the guild to gain back its former glory and for safe passage on this job for Natsu and Happy. Bowing her head deeply, her blond hair trailed past her shoulders and fluttered in the wind.

Natsu stood at the side of the shrine and watched as Lucy prayed. Natsu didn't believe in the whole prayer or worship thing. Nor did he think Lucy did. After all, this was a different kind of religion all together that he didn't understand. Between the church in Magnolia and this shrine, he didn't understand what the differences were. To him, it was another place where people went to remember things that make them sad and wish for protection.

"Natsu, I didn't see anyone." Happy returned with a sad hint to his voice.

Too caught up in his thoughts, Natsu just nodded to his friend and continued to think why would anyone want to pray to something that makes them remember bad memories? He knew that Lucy would be up there thinking about her parents and wishing for guidance when she shouldn't. She has her friends, the guild, And him to help guide her and protect her.

With all the mix emotions swirling around his head, Natsu cringed at the thought of Lucy being sad and almost looked away so his heart wouldn't sink at the sight of a highly predictable tear streaked face, but he was shocked with Lucy's warm smile spreading across her face as she retracted from her bow.

That smile. Something about how naturally warm she was made Natsu feel almost powerful, like he can do anything. Natsu realized that there's no religion that could save him, protect him or guide him. No matter how long his knees are on the floor or now low he'd bow his head. All he needed was someone by his side.

Taking the bag out from her pack, she pulled a few pieces of fruit and laid it on the shrine as an offering. Clapping twice, Lucy smiled at the shrine and turned to walk down the stone steps only to be faced with a mass of dark grey fabric draped over the silhouette of a man's back.

Natsu caught Lucy's interruption and walked to the front of the shrine to also see a man sitting on the steps. Natsu was positive that nobody was in the area when they arrived at the shrine. So how was it that he didn't hear this man approaching, let alone smell his presence? Yet here he was, sitting on the stone steps?

Looking back at Lucy, he could see she was just as confused on how she could have missed this man. She started to descend the steps with caution. Studying the man, Lucy found that he was wearing dark navy blue, tan and white robes that left one arm exposed with brown belts holding the robes together underneath his grey drapery. His neck and wrists were adorned with wooden beads and tassels while he held onto a tall staff that resembled a mossy, twisted tree branch with simple calligraphy carved into it.

Walking past him on the steps so she could see his face, the man sat with his legs crossed and eyes closed. His head sported long stubble along with his cheeks and chin, while laugh lines started to carve their way along side his mouth. As Lucy studied this man more, she realized that he was quite handsome for a monk. He was quite muscular and perhaps stronger then Natsu was, with all the drapery on his body, he almost looked similar to Guildarts.

As Natsu made his way behind Lucy, he also studied the man and wasn't impressed with what he saw. What Natsu wanted to know is how this man slipped past him without anyone noticing.

"Excuse me. We're mages from the guild Fairy Tail, are you the monk client that requested to be escorted back to the northern temple," Lucy asked.

The monk in front of her was not the monk that she saw in her dreams. This monk didn't wear the same colour robes and was well-built then the one she dreamed of. Lucy wondered if the monk she dreamt of was female. But girls can't be monks.

As the monk on the stone steps took a deep breath in through his nose and released back out through his mouth, he opened his eyes and gave a soft smile. "Although I'm not the one who hired you, I am your client. Please call me Sohei. What may I call the three of you?"

Lucy stood in shock. Looking at Sohei closely she noticed that the iris and pupil parts of his eyes were marbled with a creamy pale green colour. Looking over her shoulder to see Natsu and Happy behind her staring at the monk intently, Lucy couldn't understand how this monk appears to be blind, yet he knew there was more then just one person in front of him.

"Hey, why are your eyes funny?" Happy asked only to receive glare from Lucy.

The monk gave out a loud laugh. It thundered like a grey cloud ready to rain at any moment. "Because little one, I'm blind."

"I'm sorry he's young and-"Lucy started but was cut off by Sohei raising a large hand for silence.

"No trouble at all. I understand my eyes are a bit unusual, and it's not everyday that you come across a blind monk. But it's also not everyday that I get to meet an Exceed. Let alone a Dragon Slayer and a Celestial mage."

"You see pretty well, funny eyes." Natsu replied with a hint of amusement in his voice

"Being blinded well into life has its perks, you could say. I've trained my senses and body to help me know what I'm looking at. Vibrations, wind patterns, voices, things like that," Sohei explained as he stood up from the steps and made his way to the group. "And when you freely talk about your magic in public, it's not hard for anyone, let alone a blind man, to guess."

"So ease dropping into others conversations is the way of a monk, huh? Sneaking around also must be a strong suit," Natsu laughed as he started to stretch his arms for a fight. "Man, you'd make for a good fight. I'm almost getting fired up just thinking about it."

"Sadly, I cannot fight you, it's against my vows." Sohei gestured to his beads. "But the young lady is right, I am from the northern temple and the monks there are known to be aerial experts, thus we move well with the wind," Sohei coolly explained.

"Huh. Then why do you need our help?" Happy asked as he bounced on the monk's head.

"I asked the same thing, I am able to take on the journey back to the temple, but others at the monastery believe other wise. They take my lack of sight as a handicap, but we both clearly can tell that I need not the use of a handicap," Sohei once again coolly explained.

Looking back at her partner who was clearly charging him self up for a fight, Lucy quickly wrapped an arm around Natsu's bicep, " Well, that's enough talk for now, we all have the proper information about this job so let's head off," Lucy nervously blurted out while pulling Natsu away from the monk.

"Oi, Lucy I wasn't finished-" Natsu complained as he was being forced to move.

Sohei smiled at Lucy's attempt to calm her friend down and followed her towards the end of town.

As they reached the towns edge, Natsu was calmed but still insisted on pestering the monk about his abilities. Natsu had never met a monk, let alone one that can be undetectable and with his experience with those who posses the skills that this monk appears to have, they'd always been an enemy or caused trouble in some way.

While having a conversation with Sohei, Lucy learned that there was a passage on the mountains that was almost a direct path to the temple. It was only used by monks so not many people knew of it. This path cut the travel time in half thus making the job only days instead of weeks.

Just before they entered the fields outside of town, Sohei stopped to look to the sky. Lucy studied his eyes to see them shifting around like a normal persons eyes would when looking at objects with curiosity. Concerned, Lucy asked "Sohei, everything ok?"

"It's going to rain today. Does everyone have an umbrella?"

"The sky is clear with no clouds! How can it rain?" Happy asked

"When you are older and been through much, one can sense a change in the air," Sohei explained only to receive a confused look on the cat's face.

"Think of it like this, an older person's joints are well used so their body can sense air pressure changes. I have a similar sense." Sohei explained once again.

"So you're like the Master?" Happy asked innocently.

Sohei laughed his thunderous laugh once again, "No, Little one. If the stories Lucy-san and yourself have told me are true, I am nowhere as remarkable as your Guild Master."

"We can beat the rain if we keep moving," Natsu mentioned as he moved past the group.

As the group walked a beaten path through fields of corn and wheat, the golden colours of fall shined in the sunlight while the chill in the wind was a constant reminder that it would be colder in the mountains. Lucy sighed at how cold she was once again. The Magic Natsu 'transferred' into her body had worn out but luckily for her, the sun was still reaching its peak and warmed her skin when the wind wasn't blowing.

The group traveled in a quiet 'line-up' with Natsu leading, Sohei and Happy in the middle and Lucy struggling to keep up. She wondered how a blind man could move so fast in such awkward terrain. Rubbing her arms as they reached the foot of the mountain, Lucy sighed at the sudden cold blast of wind. But looking ahead she saw that Sohei and Happy were waiting for her.

"Can you manage?" Sohei asked

"Oh, I can 'manage'just not as fast as everyone else," Lucy replied.

"Here, hold onto the end of my staff. It may be easier for you," Sohei explained as he lowered the head of this staff towards Lucy's voice.

"That's a smart idea," Happy commented as he jumped from Soehi's shoulder onto the staff.

Lucy did as implied and held onto the staff. As they continued to walk up the mountain pass, she realized that while holding onto a staff wasn't helping her stumbling, it definitely helped her to keep up with the group and hold her balance. It wasn't long until they were caught up with Natsu who was waiting for them little ways up the path.

Once the group was reunited, they continued the path up the mountain and Lucy found herself looking up at Sohei, he was quite tall and even though his face was warm and gentle, something about him seemed like he has a dark side. His beads that hung loosely around his wrist chimed eerily as the memory of her dream monk came flooding back into her mind.

Caught up in the flash backs of her dreams Lucy tried so hard to repress, she looked to the sky for relief only to see the castle silhouette once again. Startled, she tripped over a raised root and landed on her bare knees. As she winced I pain she mentally kicked her self. It was times like these where she wished she didn't wear skirts.

"Lucy, are you alright? You're pretty clumsy today," Natsu shouted out from the top of the path.

"Yeah, I'm ok!" Lucy commented back with irritation. '_Course he'd head me fall from al the way up there._'

Standing up and brushing the dirt off the scraped skin, Lucy once again took hold of Sohei's staff and continued.

Catching up to the energetic Dragon Slayer, Lucy found an old tree stump and sat down on it while pulling out a small first aid kit from her pack. As she started to clean the wounds on her knees, Natsu sat next to her and watched.

"Sohei, how is it that you aren't stumbling around like Lucy?" Natsu asked.

"I've been taking this path to get to the town ever since I can remember," Sohei replied as he too sat down on the ground.

"Do the monks visit the town often? I thought they never leave the monastery." Lucy commented as she winced from the rubbing alcohol, used to clean the small scratches.

"Of course we leave the monastery from time to time. We also need medical supplies, farming tools, money and other basics. Actually I was in town renewing an agreement for the Abbot."

Sohei started to paint a story about the average life of a monk and how they live simple life. They grow their own food; make their own clothes, brew their own alcohol and medicine and naturally, train their minds and body for protection and enlightenment. Sohei is actually classified as one of the higher ranked monks who often did the tasks and jobs for the Abbot when he isn't in the temple, which is quite frequently.

This is why, Sohei assumes, the Monastery put out the job.

Sohei goes on to explain that he was in town to renew a contract between the town and their temple which is a unique situation and typically isn't a shared ideal amongst other temples. The agreement which has been standing for a few generations is to allow the monks to occasionally visit the town for basic supplies (such as medicine) and to set up a stall in the market place to sell their goods in exchange for free demonstrations and blessings, and other things. This relationship is 'beautiful' because it helps both parties with income and trade, thus the contact being renewed every few years.

Once Lucy finished cleaning her knees up and the group was rested, they continued to walk down the path, this time more as a group instead of a strict line. Sohei's stories were interesting to the group, allowing them to see a glimpse about the closed culture of life inside a Temple.

Explaining to the group that it's a rule that several monks go to town together so they could avoid temptation, Sohei received a pardon from this rule due to the renewal with the town falling on a date that the temple kept as an anniversary.

The anniversary isn't a happy one. This day seven years ago the temple was under attack and underwent severe damages. Although nobody died, one monk was kidnapped as a result to protecting the temple. To show gratefulness, the Abbot created this anniversary to remember the bravery of this lost monk and all those who reside in the temple will pray for a full twenty-four hours in hopes that the monk will return. The temple calls this day 'Silent Prayer.'

Lucy sympathetically asked about the history of this anniversary only to have Sohei go silent, reminiscing in the memory about what happened seven years ago.

"It's such a tragic story, and you're all so young. That monk was my partner, fellow brother in the temple and my best friend."

Sohei looked to the sky once again; to Lucy it looked like he was searching for something. Just like how she looked to the sky.


	5. Chapter 5: Loose Yourself

**Chapter 5: Lose your self**_**– Eminem.**_

Dead leaves rustled against the ground while birds took flight to calmer lands leaving nothing but haunting silence. Looking into Soehi's eyes, a strong feeling washed over Lucy telling her that this blinded monk may hold the answers she longed to find. If her suspicions were correct and Sohei was the key to the dreams that haunted her day and night, it would mean that she would not only save the mages but she may also hold a chance to see her late mother. Thinking back to her dream, as if on cue, a sudden gust of wind caught its self in the folds of Sohei's robes making the beads dangling from his wrists chime eerily.

Lucy held onto her hair as it blew through her fingers as she asked "Can you tell us what happened seven years ago?"

Sohei breathed in the mountain air and started to explain that seven years ago, during an unusual heavy rain storm, an unknown man came to the temple. What his reasoning was, nobody fully understood but the outcome would suggest that he wanted something precious to the temple, their most powerful monk.

This man wheedled strange power, power of a strong and well experienced mage older then what the man seemed to be. Sohei described this power to be like a chameleon, the mage would absorb his opponent's power only to use it against them with impressive strength while storing the ability into his magic arsenal for later use. Due to this strange power, destruction to the temple was dealt in such a small amount of time. The mage penetrated their defences within minutes and reached the heart of the temple, the main hall, where he aimed to take on the Abbot.

At the time of the Mage's attack, the Abbot and most of the higher ranking monks all joined together to cast a prayer of protection upon the temple. The prayer would be effective only if there weren't any interruptions during the repetitive chanting. Other monks, whose specialties reside in combat, protected the outside chambers. Sohei was one of them.

In the midst of their battle with the mage, all things seemed lost. The monks were losing to this mage at a rapid pace and it would seem like the prayers were of little effect. When most of his brothers were defeated but not killed, thanks to the prayers being chanted, Sohei was soon the last one standing. Drained of his energy and exhausted from battle, Sohei was forced into desperate measures. The result of his power was so tremendous that the mage grew attracted to this power.

Before Sohei could complete the final blow, he was distracted for a split second at the sight of his best friend, and partner, entering the battle ground.

"You see, this idiot was known to like the wind, carefree and always everywhere but nowhere to be found when you try to seek it out," Sohei explained.

Because of this distraction in battle, the mage took hold of Sohei's face with his bare hands and a light suddenly surrounded them. The last thing Sohei recalled seeing was his best friend's panicked expression as his world went dark. From there, all that could be heard was silence as he fell backwards landing on his back without any feeling of pain. All he could feel was the cold rain on his broken body and the pending embrace of death as he laid on the ground weightless. The teachings tell those who believe that in death, one should not regret anything or feel despair but Sohei was full of it. He wished he could have protected the temple better, he wished that he was stronger for his brethren, and was able to say the things he never could say to those he loved. Sohei prayed that if he was to depart from this world that the gods would send a protector in his place to save the temple, and they did.

Suddenly, like the sound of a gong being struck, Sohei could feel the tension of controlled panic in the air; he could hear the temple's wooden frame cracking under broken weight, the pounding of feet on the wet ground, the vibrations of voices chanting sutras and the cool fall wind on his skin through the rips in his robes. By the time one of his brothers found him, it stopped raining and Sohei's best friend and the mage was nowhere to be found on the temple grounds. It became clear to Sohei that he was saved from death and his best friend was the protector the gods sent.

"What an incredible story, but you left out quite a few things. Like what was your desperate measure and-"

"Lucy-san, I left quite a bit out of the story for good reason. It's still too hard to mention-" Sohei started as sorrow filled his face. "Everything will fall into place someday and you will learn the true story when it needs to be told."

Sohei started to walk away from the group swaying his staff along the ground with a sensation of despair looming over him. As the group followed, things once again became quiet.

"I've read that a monk is taught to let go of all that is precious to him, to never hold anger, to continue on and live in simplicity. But how do you listen to those teachings when such disaster is inflicted leaving no reason or conclusion," Lucy mentioned.

Natsu wanted to reply to Lucy with words of experience in loosing someone precious, but for some reason it didn't feel right. His experience of loosing Igneel was painful but Natsu couldn't compare it to the loss of a person you spent most of your life with. Maybe it was because Natsu was only a child who was protected for a short amount of time while Sohei spent his entire life protecting and protected by another life, that kind of bond is different but nonetheless devastating.

Natsu glanced over at his partner who walked beside him trying to hide how cold she was. Giving off a smirk, He knew that the bond they have isn't as old or nearly as strong like Sohei's was, but Natsu felt like they had a different kind of bond. Maybe it was because Lucy was a girl and Sohei's partner was another monk, but with all the recent feelings stirring around Natsu's head, he knew that they were something different. He just wasn't sure what yet.

Noticing his partner's shivers, Natsu gently warped his large hand around Lucy's wrist while they walked down the mountain path. Once again he 'transferred' heat into her body while ignoring her disapproving stares. Removing his hand just as gently as he placed it, a thought of Lucy disappearing with out a trace wasn't even an option in his mind. She was right here, beside him, and that was never going to change.

After a while had past and morning turned into late afternoon, things were settled and everyone caught their composure to start having conversations again, Sohei estimated that the journey would finish later in the evening. Sohei offered the group to stay in the traveler's quarters at the temple for the night due to the woods not being the safest to walk around in at dark.

"Lucy-san, am I correct in assuming you are a Celestial Spirit mage?" Sohei asked.

"Yes, but how did you know? I don't remember talking about my spirits at all…" Lucy replied

"I herd your keys jingling on your belt back at the shrine." Sohei explained. "Sounded like you have quite a few, maybe fourteen or fifteen keys?"

"It's true, I have fifteen, how did you know?" Lucy commented, startled at his accuracy.

"Quite a few for a Celestial mage, not many have more then five let alone fifteen. Do you know the history of Celestial Spirit magic?" Sohei asked.

"I know that the magic was originally discovered by the Celeste Family long ago. But I can't find much information about it. But how does a monk know about magic?" Lucy replied

"Well, monks do lean towards a simple human life without complication, but it's good to know your enemy," Sohei explained, "and there are some monks who do practice magic. That's where the 'Holy' style of magic originated from."

Turning his attention back to Lucy, Sohei asked "Which keys do you currently have contracts with?"

"I have contracts with most of the Zodiac," Lucy answered happily, "And some other real handy spirits as well."

"Which zodiac, there are several styles out there."

"The astrological zodiac," Lucy replied. "There are more out there? I've always wanted to learn about the history of my style of magic but could never find anyone to talk to. Do you know much about Celestial magic? "

"I'm no master on the subject but I do know a few tidbits," Sohei replied to the excited Celestial mage.

As Lucy started to fire off questions, Happy floated back onto Natsu's shoulder. The cat grew a smile at his blonde friend's excitement. "He does know a lot, doesn't he?"

Natsu, ahead of the group, started to slow his pace so Lucy had more time and privacy to talk about her magic. Natsu knew nothing about her style of magic; it hurt him to know that this was one thing he couldn't help his friend with. So if Sohei was Lucy's only chance to figure things out, Natsu wanted to give her as much time to talk as he could.

After a while of trivial questions, Lucy finally started to feel satisfied with her self. She finally knew about several types of keys, how they are created, some of the best Celestial Spirit mages in history and a few amazing abilities that she could eventually learn.

"Sohei, can I ask you a serious question? Since you know so much about Celestial mages," Lucy asked with a serious tone.

Once Sohei gave a nod, Lucy started, "The desperate measure in your story was it-"

"No Lucy-san, I'm not a Celestial Spirit mage. I am a monk who simply knows a little bit of everything," Sohei cut Lucy off.

"Did you know a Celestial Spirit mage?" Lucy asked. "Your answers felt like they came from personal experience,"

"I'm sorry but I can't say I know a Celestial Spirit mage, besides you of course." Sohei replied with a smile while continuing to walk down the path.

"So if I asked you about a dream, you wouldn't know much about it," Lucy asked.

Both Sohei and Natsu stopped in their tracks. It was clear that both were on edge about what Lucy just asked. "What was the dream about?" Sohei finally replied.

"A castle."

After several moments passed, Sohei turned and faced Lucy as he grabbed onto her wrist. "I may not be of help but heed my words. A dream about castles in the sky is a bad omen."

"I didn't mention that the castle was in the sky," Lucy replied,

"Lucy, Funny eyes, we're almost at the bottom of the hill." Natsu yelled out.

"Mountain, Natsu." Happy commented back.

"Hill, mountain, I don't care. We're almost off of it is all that matters." Natsu once again argued while continuing to walk down the path.

"Sohei, please if you know anything about the castle-" Lucy started ignoring her partners.

"Natsu-san, I noticed when we first met he has a lot of strain within him. Has he been through a lot recently or maybe suffered a traumatic event?" Sohei asked.

Annoyed, Lucy replied with a stale tone, "His father disappeared one day when he was a child. Natsu is constantly looking for him but can't seem to catch a break."

"Was his father a Fire Dragon?" Sohei asked as if he was piecing together a story in his head.

To Lucy, Sohei was turning out to be a complex guy; He's been through a lot and taken on more. But having unfinished conversations with him was confusing. Sohei was digging for something, but what Lucy couldn't understand. First he lead on that he didn't know about the castle in the sky, then changed his tune. Now his mind is on Natsu. What he was piecing together that she couldn't see.

As Lucy kept replaying the conversation in her head, things weren't adding up. So many questions were left unanswered and Lucy knew that Sohei would never tell her much of anything. But she was willing to bet that the mage from seven years ago is connected to the castle in the sky which in turn is after him, but how was the Celestial mages involved?

"Look Sohei, you don't have to worry. Natsu, Happy and I will protect you till the very end. You have my promise on that," Lucy said with a sincere voice.

As Lucy finished comforting her client, the sky started to go dark while thunder rolled in. Panicking, Lucy looked to the sky once again searching. "We better catch up with the rest of the group."

Lucy grabbed onto Sohei's wrist and pulled him along as she ran towards her friends. While running the short distance, all Lucy could think about was Sohei holding back important information that could have came at a better time. Lucy saw the castle's silhouette in the sky again but it was much closer then usual, almost as if it was a meters away.

"Lucy, is that a good idea to pull a blind man along while your running?" Natsu asked when Lucy and Sohei finally caught up with them.

"Don't worry about me; I can handle much worse," Sohei replied slightly out of breath. "Listen, I really think we need to keep moving and get to the temple quickly. The rain is coming," Sohei replied with a hint of panic.

"What's so bad about the rain?" Natsu asked.

"The rain isn't the issue; it's what comes after." Sohei once again replied with a hint of panic in his voice.

As the group stood facing each other, large raindrops fell from the dark grey sky. As one drop landed on Sohei's cheek, he looked at the sky and shifted his eyes as if he were not blind.

"Who's after you? Is it that Mage from seven years ago?" Lucy interrogated.

Ignoring Lucy's question, Sohei pushed past Natsu and headed into the Worth Woodsea, tall and thick trees towered over the group while Sohei tried weaving his staff in and out of the path feeling for land marks. As they walked through the forest path, more rain started to fall until a steady flow came down.

As the rain fell through the trees like crystals, the wind picked up more then usual. Lucy couldn't help but look to the sky every chance she could. The sight of clear detailing of bricks, frames on windows and metal detailing worried her. Never in her dreams had she seen the castle this close and clear.

As tears from her eyes started to be washed away by the rain, Lucy put her hands to her mouth in fear, something was wrong. She knew that she was the only one to see the castle, but something just didn't feel right. Her body was screaming at her to run away from the mission, but refusing to listen to her instincts left her paralysed in fear.

"Someone's in the forest. How far are we from the temple?" Natsu asked still taking note of a strange scent.

As Sohei and Natsu both turned their heads towards the direction of a strong power exuding from the forest, a white shape started to appear in the distance. As if the figure was playing in the trees, sounds of beads started to chime in a haunting manor. Lucy started to quiver once again in how the memory of her dream was now playing out in front of her.

"You sense her too… don't you?" Sohei asked with a dark voice as he stopped in the middle of the path.

As the beads kept chiming closer to the group, another sound was becoming more noticeable, the sound of rain hitting silk-like canvas.

As the shape in the distance started to form a figure of a woman with long brown hair tied into a braid that draped over one shoulder. She wore white robes similar style to Sohei, draped on one shoulder with several ties around her waist and black beads adoring her wrists and neck.

She carried an orange umbrella made of silk canvas ever so gingerly in her thin hands as she walked in silence with such grace.

Looking over to Sohei and back at the woman, confused at the resemblance in costume, Lucy thought to her self, '_Monks can't be female, but she's dressed like one and she's the warrior I've been dreaming about. She must be here to take Sohei to the castle_.'

Making her way beside Sohei, Lucy wasn't sure if she wanted to tell him about the woman in front of them, "Don't worry, I promised that I protect you. Sohei, answer me this, can a monk be female?"

Sohei straightened up, his eyes shifted around once again. "Natsu-san, remember how you said you want to fight a 'Holy mage-monk' here's your chance."

"I'm all fired up."


	6. Chapter 6: Castles in the Sky

**Chapter 6: Castles in the Sky– Ian Van Dahl**

Cold rain continued to pour down through the trees and with the wind picking up; it was quickly becoming a fine recipe for a hurricane. As the team tried to stay grounded, fearful that they'd be swept away, Lucy held onto Sohei's arm to reassure him protection.

The white warrior in front of them didn't falter from the wind and rain like the others. In fact she stood with such poise and conviction; it seemed as if the rain and wind was moving around her. Standing with her orange umbrella in hand and an ice blank stare, she put everyone on edge.

"Natsu, can you fight in this rain?" Happy asked, holding onto Natsu's shoulder.

"Oh yeah, It may not have the same taste but it will still pack a punch," Natsu replied with confidence. "Yo, Lady with the funny clothing. If it's a fight you want I'm more then happy to oblige."

The warrior looked over the team with an expressionless look, after a moment she raised up a delicate hand and loosely pointed a finger in Sohei's direction.

"Well you can't have him," Natsu yelled out with attitude.

In reply to Natsu's cockiness, the warrior shifted her weight. The umbrella fell from her delicate hand, hitting the ground soundlessly while the fabric started to disintegrate. changing into a fighting stance as orange particles started to rise around her like butterflies. She moved her feet shoulder width apart, leaving her knees slightly bent while placing one gentle hand straight out in front of her with the other close to her body, palm facing in at shoulder height.

Natsu, smiling at the display, lit his fists up in flames. Though small, the combustion started to glow a brilliant blue. As they licked at his skin hungrily through the pouring rain, each flame flickered through the breath of wind blowing across his skin.

"I'll help you stay on the ground through this wind," Happy announced as he spread his wings across Natsu's back.

With a large smirk on his lips, Natsu laughed in approval as he started to run past Lucy and Sohei into combat.

Just as Natsu departed from the group, Sohei called out, "Don't use any magic against her; defence is a monk's strongest ability. She will try to drain you before using her own power."

Ignoring the monk's warning, Natsu continued his pending assault towards the warrior. Jumping into the air while the fire on his fists suddenly developed around his forearms, Natsu called out, "Karyu no Yokugeki, Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"

Landing in front of the warrior, Natsu throws his first punch which forced the warrior to take a step backwards. Her body bended around each punch, her balance barely hindered.

Switching up her defence, the warrior grabs onto Natsu's wrists, which extinguished the flames. With a tight hold, she uses Natsu's momentum to forces his fists into the ground, trapping them inside the earth.

Without hesitation, Natsu throws his legs into the air and propels them towards the girl while calling out, "Karyu no Kasitsume, Fire Dragons Claw."

A bone-cracking sound penetrates the air when Natsu's attack makes contact with the warrior's shin. Natsu lines up for another attack but is left for a knee to his diaphragm, forcing him to be shot out of the mud and buried into a nearby tree trunk.

A blood wrenched gasp escaped his lips when Natsu fell to the forest floor. Smiling, he wiped away the bloody saliva and looked over to his exceed partner. "Happy, are you alright?"

"A-aye," Happy let out with a weak voice. "Natsu, you've gotten heavy."

"Heh, guess that means I've gotten stronger." Natsu commented while looking towards the warrior, who swirled her hands around her body and placed them back into a defensive pose.

Joining into the battle, Lucy reached for her holster preparing for an attack when a growl shoots through the air. "She's mine; you can't have her, Lucy."

"We work better as a team, Natsu,"

"What do you think Happy and I are doing?" Natsu replied gesturing at the wings on his back.

While the two mages argued over 'teamwork', the warrior started to get restless. Her face changed from serious to annoyed as she shot off a couple of punches towards Natsu. The young Dragon Slayer evaded each punch, landing himself in front of Lucy. Without hesitation the hot-headed mage took another running start towards his opponent.

The warrior raised her forearms to her head in defence, as four quick and heavy blows from Natsu make contact. During Natsu's assault, the warrior thrusts her hands in between Natsu's arms, forcing them to spread open and taking the opportunity to throw six hits back with equal speed.

Continuing the onslaught, the warrior raised her stance and connected a hard swing kick into Natsu's ribcage wrapping his body around her leg.

Taking the warriors split second break to re-focus her body, Natsu started to swing at her once again while the flames started to engulf his arms. "Karyu no Enchu, Fire Dragon Flame Elbow."

Thanks to the fire behind Natsu's elbows, his punches were becoming quicker as the young mage landed several hits on the warrior's torso, pushing her back into a defensive stance.

The warrior was faulting under the pressure; she took an extra step backwards to exist the fight followed by several backward flips leaving a trail of faint magic circles in her wake.

Standing upright, the warrior sported a grin as she raised a hand. Placing her thumb and middle finger together, she snapped them causing the spells to explode from under Natsu in a ball of fire.

The crackle of fire was all that was heard on the battle ground. The warrior turned away from the blast and directed her attention back to the path of the blind monk with the little blonde mage beside him.

The warrior only reached halfway when Lucy stepped in-between the warrior and the monk wearing a devious smirk. Confused, the warriors face tilted to the side with a quizzical expression.

Taking her own power stance, Lucy raised a hand and points behind the warrior.

The warrior looked over her shoulder to witness a male body emerging on top of the flames.

Inhaling he heat, the fire eater turns harden eyes towards his target. "Heh, your flames ain't nothing special."

While airborne, the Fire Eater cried out with swollen cheeks, "Karyu no Hoko, Fire Dragons Roar."

A large explosion broke out towards the warrior as a line of fire connects, however a brilliant yellow light sliced its way through the attack by pushing the flames to either side of the warrior.

The smoke clears, reviling the warrior in a new defensive stance. Her weight on one foot past her hips with the other directly behind her and both hands pointing forward in front of her body.

A dome of energy surrounded her which is the caused of fire to split in half.

Emerging from her defensive shield, the warrior took to the trees for a better chance to land an attack on her flying opponent.

Seeing the amount of ground covered by the warrior, Happy switched his in-flight pattern but the warrior continued to keep up with the cat's evasion as she continued to jump between trees.

In one jump, the warrior managed to get within range of her target and connected a massive hit on the Exceed, separating Happy from his partner.

The warrior's hands started to glow and she released a fire based attack – similar to Natsu's previous attack- on the two targets, drilling them into the ground.

"Natsu! Happy!" Lucy called out as she takes off running to her guild mates aid.

Landing hard onto his back, Natsu flips onto his feet to a protective stance, shredding the tree roots and cracking the earth.

Natsu struggled to get back up to fight, clearly exhausted from using four of his stronger attacks.

Landed on the destroyed ground seemly unscathed, the warrior in white continued to walk towards the injured Dragon Slayer displaying sorrow filled eyes.

A glowing hand full of pulsing, white flame, energy is raised up above her head. With out a flinch, the girl forces her hand to plunge downwards.

The attack was intervened as Sohei appeared just before impact using a whirlwind shield to encase both fighters leaving their opponent to struggle for control over her attack.

Inside the shield, Natsu raised his hands to his ears and howls in pain. The sound of wind scratching against its self was too much for the Dragon Slayer to bear.

"I told you not to use magic, idiot. Now only are you almost drained but you're just feeding her attacks," Sohei replies with frustration as he tried to push the energy ball back towards the warrior.

"Funny eyes you need to get out of here." Natsu argued through his pain.

"I can't do that Natsu. This girl is a master in the original Holy magic, aerial evasion and hand to hand combat."

Growing in strength, Sohei moulded the wind around the energy ball.

"Only I can combat her." Sohei commented as he dispelled the attack.

Using his staff to push the warrior back, Sohei successfully threw the warrior off balance to create an opening for another assault, this time favouring hand to hand combat.

Accepting the monk into the battle, the warrior spared little time in adjusting her self to the new rival.

Once within range, the warrior continues her assault of swing kicks only to be caught off guard as her calf is captured by the blinded monk.

With incredible strength, her thigh received blow after blow that threatened to shatter the bone.

Dropping her body to the ground helped dwindle the attack on her severally bruised leg, but by landing on her hand, she gained enough drive to force her free leg up into Sohei's jaw.

Using her moment of freedom to gain a safe distance out of range, the pain within her injured thigh becomes too much to ignore as the girl fighter falls to the ground.

Although his jaw felt cracked, a threatening glare still made its way to the snickering Dragon Slayer.

"Doesn't look like you can 'combat' her any better then what I can," Natsu mocked.

"Surely two against one will be a benefit, although your magic is getting low-"

"How's your jaw doing?" Natsu said with a cocky tone.

"Touché," With a slight chuckle, Sohei returned his attention to the warrior. "Listen, we need to take out her legs. I already caused damage on her right thigh that should slow her down-"

Once again Sohei's words were ignored as the Fire Eater took to battle leaving the monk to roll his eyes.

The warrior set her body up once again for an attack when the mage called out, "Karyu no Koen, Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame."

Natsu used his hands to create a massive ball of destruction, shooting the attack at the warrior dead on; she evaded the attack by running up a tree without showing any pain from her thigh.

The warrior stoped as she reaches the half way point of the tree and bended her body around the ball creating a backwards flip as the attack engulfs the tree in flames.

Taking his cue, Sohei put himself within range of an attack to continue where Natsu left off.

All that could be seen was drapes of fabric and chimes of beads as the fighting started to get quicker. With each punch matching the other, every swing kick dodged, blocks having little effect and all the body blows making impact. The two monks were truly a different kind of fighter. Natsu stared, mesmerized.

Unsure of how to attack, Natsu searched for an opening only to be drawn to the Celestial Spirit mage standing behind the fight with the blue cat in her arms calling out, "Natsu, her legs are her weakness."

With a large smile, Natsu developed a plan and waited for the perfect moment. Sohei already weakened the warrior, all Natsu needed to do was keep the pressure on.

Within moments, Natsu finally saw the opportunity he had been waiting for. Sohei kept the warrior tangled up, which maked a clear shot for a third party attack.

With impressive speeded, Natsu added a devastating blow to the warriors already weakened thigh, fracturing the bone then continuing his fiery pursuit down the entire leg.

Sohei built on the pressure Natsu started and with equal force both monk and mage create one final blow drilling the warrior into the ground a few meters away.

For a few moments, everything was still. It seemed to be over.

The rain fell down the warrior's porcelain face, like tears the mud and blood started to wash away in streaks.

Lucy's face bloomed with a large smile as both Natsu and Sohei relaxed from there offences stances.

"You guys did it!" Lucy called out happily as she ran to their side.

"How's Happy?" Natsu asked gesturing to her arms.

"Spent, but he'll be ok."

"Good," Natsu let out as he fell to his knees to rest. "Now that was a fight. Too bad this original mage-monk didn't last long."

"Don't be too sure, it's not over yet," Sohei replied hauntingly.

Both Lucy and Natsu looked towards the warrior who now stood on her feet as if she didn't take on any damaged.

The warrior smiled as she once again got into position, In what seemed to be a blur, the warrior started her attack full throttle, throwing the team around like rag dolls.

Natsu and Sohei quickly rebounded and continued their joint effort, encircling her around a sea of hand combat attacks.

Finally stepping into the fight, Lucy calls out "Fleuve d'étoiles" as her whip takes on a stream of roped water.

Studying the fight, Lucy learned that the warrior's weakness is within her legs. If she could demobilize the warrior's legs for just the right amount of time, Sohei and Natsu could finish her off.

Swirling the Fleuve d'étoiles around, Lucy snapped the whip towards warrior's ankles only to miss her target and catch hold of the warriors waist instead.

The warriors gave off a chilling smile as she took hold of the whip, forcing the blonde into the middle of the circle with her.

At the sight of Lucy in the middle of the battle, Natsu quickly pulled out backwards onto a trunk of a large tree.

Sensing Natsu's sudden hesitation and Lucy's voice, Sohei also pulled away quickly, thrusting his staff into the ground for support.

"Lucy! Get out of there!" Natsu yelled through the rain and wind.

Not letting up, the warrior creates another glowing circle underneath their feet as she started to split the whip down the centre.

In an instant, the warrior managed to use each side of the whip to tangle Natsu's legs and lower body against the tree while Sohei remained standing but bound to the ground.

Using Lucy's hesitation to attack, the warrior plunged a hand onto Lucy's neck and bashed her against a tree.

Holding onto her opponents wrist as her body was forced off the ground, Lucy looked into the warrior's eyes and in what seemed like hours, the warrior finally let out, "Do you ever question your life? Do you ever wonder why?"

"What are you-" Lucy started with confusion.

"Do you ever see in your dreams," the warrior whispered again, her voice lithe and ethereal, "Of the Castle in the sky."


	7. Chapter 7: One that got Away

**Chapter 7: One that Got Away- Katy Perry**

With white robes freshly stained in blood and weighed down by ice cold drain, she floated. Her long brown hair flowed down like a river uncontrollably matched with an empty expression and cold eyes.

How can a symbol of simplicity and purity be so horrifying?

As the rain continued to fall, the wind still danced around them. Looking at the warrior, Lucy's eyes started to fill with tears as she gasped for air. Her nightmares were coming true; this warrior-monk was going to be the death of her and the team unless she could do something.

With Natsu and Sohei stringed up by her own magic and Happy passed out nearby, Lucy had no one to help her

'_I-I can't let her win. I have to protect Sohei!_' Lucy thought to herself as she drastically tried to think of a plan.

Her memories and thoughts started to buzz through her head; together they created one massive illusion of what was real and fake. Through her dizzying head, Lucy could hear the voice of Natsu screaming threats while he struggled for freedom.

Through all the confusion and desperation, Lucy realized that there was only one thing she could count on at this point, her desperate measure.

"I need you by my side, Gate of the Lion, Loke!" Lucy cried out with what breath she had as tears fell down her cheeks.

As Lucy's voice echoed through the trees, lights started to gather in front of her to form the shape of her most loyal friend. His strawberry- orange hair and emerald green eyes stood out amongst the greyness that surrounded them.

With out hesitation, Loke jumped into action with the glow of his Regulus fists, penetrating the rain and wind.

Dropping the blonde to the muddy earth, she created a shield inches in front of her that repelled most of the damage Loke tried to inflict.

When the warrior came across an opening, she once again tried to split Loke's attack only to be cut short. "Regulus Punch!"

Loke drove his fist down into the warriors shoulder, forcing his opponent to take on internal damage, dislocating the shoulder.

Springing out of the way of the attack, the warriors back shot into a trunk of a tree, creating sounds of complaint.

In what seemed to be seconds, the warrior was once again injured. Leaves fell in clumps to the ground as she held onto her shoulder. The dingy fabric that made up her loose robes soaked of blood.

Walking over to Lucy's mangled Fleuve d'étoiles which still held its grasp over Natsu and Sohei, Loke reached for each strand, shattering it with his glowing fists.

"Nobody touches my master," Loke spoke with unusual seriousness and devotion as he straightened his azure-tinted glasses, "without going through me."

As Loke stopped to get a better look at the warrior, his eyes went wide. "Ami?"

"How could you possible know her?" Sohei asked as he joined the group.

Loke stood in shock and looked towards the monk, debating himself on what to say.

"Oh, don't tell me you dated her," Natsu asked with a sly voice as he walked towards the ex-guild mate.

"Uh, well that's not really," Loke commented back while rubbing the back of his large mane.

"I thought he loved Lucy," Happy asked. "Guess he really is a player."

"Happy," Lucy called out with excitement at the sight of the blue Exceed. "You're awake,"

Before Lucy could go to Happy's side, someone jerked her wrist. "Lucy-san, she knows what you are."

"W-what are you talking about Sohei?"

"Ami, she was never after me, she's hunting Celestial mages. I was tiring to hide you so nothing would happen," Sohei replied looking down at the summoner.

As the warrior stumbled out of the now cracked tree trunk, she winced with pain while she forced the dislocated shoulder back in place with a loud 'snap-pop' paired with a haunting smile.

"Still up for another round, huh? Well, I still have to pay you back for chaining me to a tree." Natsu shouted with eagerness as he once again took off.

"Natsu, that doesn't work," Sohei called out as he ran to Natsu's pending aid, leaving his staff behind.

Just as Natsu was rearing impact, fire engulfed his swing kick, but was stopped when his ankle was grasped putting out the flames.

The warrior smiled as she plunged her own foot towards his knee, in hopes of breaking it.

However, before impact, Natsu evaded the attack and forced himself to fly backwards whilst Sohei took over the battle.

By jumping over his ally, the blinded monk drove another punch towards his target only to miss as his fist buried its self into the mud cracking the earth.

Taking his turn, Loke too started his own unique attack by throwing several punches while, unknowingly, his Regulus was being drained into the warrior's body.

Attempting a surprised uppercut; the warrior blocked and plunged a kick into his gut sending Loke backwards against a tree.

With gusto, the warrior flew towards Loke but was cut off mid-flight by Natsu's midair haymaker connecting with her lower neck, drilling her into the ground.

In Natsu's shadow, Sohei flew out to finish the job only to be cut off by the warrior shooting a fist size beam of Regulus light into the side of Sohei's ribcage.

Landing on the side of his body, the monk gingerly placed his hands over the opened wound, unaware of the warrior's arrival as she walked towards him.

Just short of his feet, the warriors stopped to raise her first into the air to create another ball of Regulus when Natsu intercepted the attack with "Karyu no Koen, Fire Dragons brilliant flame"

Igniting both hands to create a massive fire ball, Natsu charged towards the warrior and launched all the magic and energy he had into one shot.

Successfully hitting her, the warrior was blown off her feet into a dizzying twirl.

Angling her hands out mid-spin, the impressive display of fire started to be shredded from the inside-out as the warrior redirected the flames around her body whilst she landed on both feet.

Using the momentum of the flame attack to boost her speed, the warrior took off towards the Celestial mage.

Intercepting the attack, Loke raised a fist up for one more attack only to be caught off guard.

"Gate of the Lion, Dispell!" the warrior hauntingly shouted out.

Loke's eyes widened with horror as his body started to disintegrate, looking back at Lucy with sorrow filled eyes his voice echoed, "Run,"

Paralysed with confusion, Lucy couldn't move out of the way in time.

Forcing her hand against Lucy's forehead, a blast of blinding light was shot out from the warrior's body filling the air with a warm breeze of summer.

Falling backwards, Lucy felt the warrior removing her hand while warmth filled her body. Expecting to hit the ground hard, Lucy was pleasantly surprised when she hit something a bit softer.

Her sight beginning to go blurry, but from what Lucy could make out her shoulder was pinned against someone's chest while her body laid in-between a set of legs. Strong arms were wrapped around her waist and shoulders when suddenly she felt an impact penetrate through both of their bodies.

Dizzily looking around, Lucy soon found that she was half way through a tree trunk while pink hair mixed with green leaves fell around her.

"Nat-su?" Lucy whispered with a weak voice.

Through the irritating inability to control her body as it started to shut down, Lucy relished in Natsu's cheek against her head, his drenched hair tickling her cheeks and the intoxicating sense of his arms as he held onto her so tight.

When his body tense up as if struck by pain, Lucy felt Natsu unwrapped his arm from her waist and reached towards his side. Keeping his head buried within his partners blonde hair, Natsu winced as he reached to the source of his pain.

A loud crunch mixed with a groan of relief echoed when Natsu pulled a large branch out from his body. Lifting his head to see the blood soaked stick, both Natsu and Lucy soon realized that it was part of Sohei's staff. Throwing the mangled chunck away, Natsu leaned his head back against the tree and sighed.

"I wonder where that lady ran off to," Natsu said light-heartedly.

Chuckling to him self only to wince in pain from the fresh puncture wound to his body, Natsu realized where his arms were positioned. Taking in the moment while he trailed his hands away from his blonde partner's body, he soon realized that it was a rare thing for him to touch her in a friendly matter. But right now, holding her close was something out of the ordinary. Smiling slightly to him self as he looked down into his arms, Natsu didn't expect this to feel, natural.

Colour started to spread across his dirty face as he kept studying the blonde in his arms. Out of curiosity, he dipped his head to get a look at Lucy's face but she wasn't blushing, smiling or flustered. She just sat there with a blank expression on those warm brown eyes. How could she not have a reaction to their moment? After all he was reacting uncharacteristically, she was in his arms, and maybe he felt drawn to her while she was so close. But she just wasn't giving off anything. This frustrated Natsu to no end. Pushing his partner off his chest, he cleared his throat as he tried to squirm out of the tree trunk.

"Happy, you there?" Natsu called as Lucy fell back into his chest.

Natsu simply pushed her body back up right with a finger carelessly and called out "Oi, Happy,"

"I'm here. 'Funny eyes' isn't too far away, where's his staff?" Happy mentioned as he popped his head out from the shattered tree debris.

"Huh, is that so?" Natsu mentioned putting on a coy voice. "I think it got mangled during the fight, ha-ha."

As Happy gave off a curious glance, he took off to Sohei's side, leaving Natsu and Lucy once again alone. '_They liiiike each other'_

As Lucy fell back to Natsu's chest, Natsu started to get a little annoyed. As he pushed her back up with a bit more force, Natsu commented through his aggravation, "C'mon Lucy, we'll play this game later. We need to help Sohei,"

Once again, Lucy fell like a rag doll against his chest. Natsu placed both hands on her arms ready to push her when he realized she was stone cold. As Natsu's eyes widened, he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and with his free hand, he cupped her jaw. She was ice. Her blank stare was haunting and her skin which usually had such life and a glow about it was dull. "Lucy, snap out of it. I can't warm you up right now."

As Natsu shook his partner, he gently started to slap her cheeks in hopes to get a reaction, but nothing came. Pulling her body against his, Natsu franticly started to rub Lucy's arms while panicking. "Shit, shit, shit."

Awkwardly slipping his way out of the mangled tree trunk; Natsu lifted Lucy into his arms as she fell limp. Drained of energy, Natsu couldn't run but tried to walk quickly towards Sohei who was now propped up against a tree holding his head in his hands.

"Happy, Sohei,"

While Happy sat beside the blinded monk, Sohei raised his tired eyes up towards the direction of Natsu's voice. Still holding his own puncture wound, he was about to ask what was going on when he felt a strange presence in the air.

The rain may have subsided for now, but there was definitely a strange feeling lurking around. Listening to Natu's hobbled footsteps getting closer, Sohei's attention was brought towards the sounds of wind blowing in circles and the dramatic drop in climate temperature, he suddenly herd Natsu call out in confusion, "What the hell," has he stopped his pursuit towards the team.

A large circle started to paint its self in the mud. "Key magic?" Natsu questioned.

Looking down at Lucy in his arms, she stared up at the sky. Natsu followed her gaze see the base of a large castle approaching. Soon after, a beam of blinding light shot down targeting Lucy's forehead, forcing Natsu to drop her and be forced backwards causing him to land on his knees. Trying to hold onto the ground, a whirl wind swept its way around the two mages forcing them further and further apart.

Looking at Lucy as a tear fell from her eyes, Natsu frantically tried to crawl his way to her. Holding his hand out he begged through the wind for her to move, even a little bit, towards him. As his wish was granted, Lucy forced her body to move pushing her hand towards his slightly. Closing the gap, Natsu grasped onto her hand.

As he touched her skin, a high pitched sound came out shattering his sense of hearing causing blood to start running from his ears, forcing Natsu to resist the urge to hold his head. "Don't let go, Lucy. You have to stay with me."

As the noise got louder, Natsu let out a loud howl but still refused to draw his hands to his ears. When Lucy suddenly started to lift off the ground, Natsu soon learned that he was being pinned down and his body wasn't following his partners as she continued to float up into the sky as their grip slowly started to degenerate to just holding each others finger tips.

He could see the horror in her eyes, she was scared and never before had he seen her in such a drastic state. Trying to keep his grip while ignoring all else around him, Natu's hand soon slipped out of hers as she started to float up towards the castle quicker then before. Just as quickly as it was written, the circle suddenly disappeared letting Natsu to jump to his feat.

"Happy," Natsu called out.

The exhausted Exceed tried to keep up with what little energy he had, Happy frantically jumped onto Natsu's back and spread his wings giving Natsu, once again, the ability to fly. "I can't keep this up for long,"

"We don't need long, she's right there. Max speed," Natsu called out with a fanatic voice.

As he flew towards the floating blonde mage, every time he was within a meter of her body, Natsu and Happy would bounce off a shield. Natsu tried bringing his fists back to flame, but could only manage a thin layer of flame magic to cover his fists.

Natsu tried to break the shield open. "We'll get you out, hang on." Natsu yelled frantically as he continued his barge of punches.

"My limit," Happy forced out through his teeth.

"Just a little longer Happy," Natsu commented as he continued his attack.

"I'm sorry Natsu, Lucy." Happy replied with sadness as his wings suddenly disappeared.

Starting to feel his stomach drop, Natsu looked back at Lucy one last time, letting his hand drag on the shield as a make-shift attempt to grab her hand; Lucy too tried reaching for her partner as she fought to gain control of her body again, wordlessly called out to him.

As Natsu started to fall, he felt a large barrier being forced upon him thrusting both Natsu and Happy into the ground and holding them there.

Struggling to get free, Happy's and Natsu's air supply was drastically diminishing when suddenly the barrier was lifted several inches bringing air into the small pocket. Sohei was next to the distressed Dragon Slayer and Exceed using what little gravity magic he had left to lift the barrier.

While Sohei screamed as his body forced its self into over drive covering his body in small electrical charges, Natsu also use what little strength he had left to pushing the barrier off.

When Lucy was finally out of sight, the barrier dispersed and Happy could breath properly again. Sohei fell to his knees in exhaustion while Natsu started to run in the direction that he last saw the castle.

Only going so far, Natsu too, fell to his knees and started to punch the earth, scraping up his hands.

As Sohei and Happy watched from a distance, sorrow was all that could be described as the fall sun started to shine once again. Natsu let out an angrier filled growl as he called out his partner's name. Collapsing onto his fists and forearms, he began to hold onto the wound on his side which started to drip larger quantities of blood.

After a moment, he forced him self onto his feet where he limped in circles drastically looking up at the sky and trying to pick up Lucy's scent. Like an angry animal, nobody dared interfere with his rampage. Happy never seen Natsu act so wild before, watching him pace around was unbearable and all Happy wanted to do was tell him that everything was going to be ok. But he couldn't, for Happy himself was stricken with sadness at the sudden loss of his friend.

While pacing, all Natsu could think of was how he could have protected her, how scared she looked and how he let her go with out a proper fight. He couldn't bare being separated from someone precious once again, and just when he was starting to understand what she meant to him.

As the Dragon Slayer finally stopped his rampage, he turned towards the direction he last saw the castle. With no evidence that something as such ever existed except for the battle ground, Natsu grew even more frustrated. Questions flooded his head on what to do, how he could find something that only Lucy could see, how he was going to survive with out her.

Out of pure rage, Natsu set his body on fire and let out a massive fire blast that cleared roughly a mile of forestry. As birds took to the sky and animals stampeding in fear, Natsu kept feeding the fire by unknowingly turning his energy into magic within his body.

Finally, feeling a hand on his shoulder, Natsu was met with a set of blind eyes behind a gravity barrier. "I know you are hurting, but if you drain yourself more, you will kill yourself."

Sohei also was forcing his body to turn energy into magic. Behind his gravity barrier that could only withstand so much of Natu's rage, his robes started to sizzle at the heat.

"She's gone Sohei." Natsu yelled out with a snarl as his eyes turned gold with power.

"She isn't dead, if you die here senselessly, you'll never find her." Sohei spoke with devotion as he tried to calm the mage down.

Natsu's skin started to turn into scales whilst he became blind with rage as flames pulsed around his body.

"Listen to me, that castle isn't invisible to Celestial Spirit mages. I've been hunting this for over seven years and I know information that others don't, we need a Celest-"

"You knew that she'd be targeted, yet you still used Lucy as bait? What kind of selfish bastard would do something so low?" Natsu cried out as another wave of fire exploded from his skin, continuing to push his body past its breaking point.

"The kind of selfish bastard who would do anything and everything just to bring back the thing most precious to him, "Sohei commented once again with a soothing voice.

"That monk we fought. She was your partner wasn't she? Just like how Lucy is to me." Natsu let out in a low growl.

"Yes, but understand, she isn't the girl I used to know. What we saw-"

As the flames started to cool and the scales blending back into his skin, Natsu was clearly out of juice. Still breathing in deeply, Natsu's knees went weak as he fell towards the ground, only to be caught by the monk.

"Good, cause' I'm gunna' destroy that bitch next time I see her." Natsu hissed through his teeth just before he blacked out.

Passed out on Sohei's shoulder, Natsu's head filled with memories of Lucy and how he wished he could have kept his promise in keeping her safe and faced the world together side by side. Maybe back in Edolas, in another life, he could have gotten Lucy to stay so he wouldn't have to tell the others back at the guild that she was the one that got away.

The one that got away.

**End of Part 1**


	8. Chapter 8: Part 2: Lullaby

**Part 2**

**Chapter 8: Lullaby**

Leaning back against the cold, damp brick wall, Lucy held her head in her hands. Fighting off, what could be described as, flu symptoms, her mind was swirling with images of Natsu's panic ridden face as he was forced to let her go.

Rubbing away stray tears from her brown eyes, Lucy placed a hand on her forehead, mentally re-creating the memory of being attacked so easily. She remembered how warm the hand felt and how the presents of the warrior entering her body didn't feel evil at all, but lost. Almost as if this warrior too, was trying to escape something.

Warm, just like how Natsu's arms felt around her body. Secretively, Lucy loved how safe she felt, but she always knew that Natsu would never look at her any differently then a friend. He practically treated her like one of the 'guys' so why would he hold her? The more Lucy thought about it, the more her face started to bloom with colour.

"Stupid idiot," Lucy said out loud to her self as her cheeks turned a deeper shade of pink. "It was jut for protection, but he doesn't, he couldn't, he wouldn't. Damn, why did he have to be so good at saving my butt all the time?"

Frustrated at tiring to figure out what her clueless team-mate's intentions were, Lucy threw a chunk of rock across the room hitting something metal. The sound of rock clashing against metal echoed up the very walls that held the distressed Celestial Spirit mage. Throwing her head back and letting out a scream in frustration, Lucy's eyes once again filled with tears.

As she sobbed quietly to herself, a reply to her demonstration of anger filed the cold room. Sounds of foot steps and conversations echoed around her only making Lucy more nervous. Frantically tiring to come up with a plan, Lucy rose on her feet and patted down the walls. Accidentally loosening a small part of the brick that made up her cell, sunlight shined through the crack blinding Lucy's vision for a moment.

Holding her left hand up to the sunlight, a plan brewed in her head of an escape as she flung herself to the wall and hastily tried to widen the small hole. Getting no where, Lucy once again lowered herself to the floor with a moan of defeat. Hearing the voices getting closer, Lucy started to prepare herself for the worst.

"What will they do to me?"

As the sun light shined down just over Lucy's shoulder, her attention was drawn to her right hand. Raising it up into the light, the soft pink fragments that created the Fairy Tail logo started to shine, reminding Lucy of who she is. Studying the logo, Lucy traced the crisp lines of her tattoo and soon realized that this was the exact same symbol that adorned the guild, it was the symbol her team cherished, her friends loved and the same symbol Natsu wore with pride.

"_Were not gunna' let it end here."_

Just over seven years ago, when all seemed lost Lucy, much like she did now, wanted to give up. It was Natsu who filled her with the confidence to continue on even in her darkest times. As his words rang through her ears, Lucy couldn't help but smile to her self. "How could I forget, Natsu."

Standing back on her feet and forcing her hand into a tight fist, Lucy looked towards the area where voices could be herd clearly. With determination in her eyes, and the new found strength of her closest friend filling her spirit, Lucy thought up a make-shift plan to break out of the cell.

"Right, I refuse to give up."

Swiftly running towards the area where the voices came from, Lucy soon found a door. Assuming who ever the voices belonged to would potentially come through, Lucy felt around for the large chunk of rock she threw earlier and prepped herself for an attack.

After a few moments when by, the edges of the door finally started to glow a bright green as it ground its self against the concrete floor making horrible screeching sounds; Lucy readied her self but halted when another two voices made themselves known from outside the door.

'_Damn, there are three of them. If only I had Gemini- Ugh, if I had any of my keys at all I wouldn't even be in this predicament_.' Lucy thought to her self and groaned at how 'blonde' she's become.

As the door opened, and a fire-lit torch cut through the darkness, a silhouette of a husky looking woman made her way into the room. Her mid-length reddish black hair framed her pretty face and swayed with her body as she continued to walk into the dark cell. "See anything?" one of the other voices asked.

"It's hard to say, the room is to dark I can't tell how far back it goes." The husky one replied.

"We did hear a loud scream coming from this direction, and this is the only room that she could be in. unless she's trapped inside a wall." another voice replied as a middle-aged woman with short curly hair also walked into the room.

"How could the new girl get down here? I thought when someone gets 'tagged' from down below, they instantly get transferred to the thrown room," The third voice replied as a younger girl also entered the room, searching.

Changing her plan, Lucy chose to hide in the shadow of the door. She wanted to hear what these girls had to say. It was obvious they were looking for her but was there more of them coming? And most importantly, what is this place?

As the three women continued to talk amongst them selves, Lucy couldn't tell if they were mages but from what she gathered, they seemed to be harmless and unarmed. Before Lucy could learn more, her observation was cut short as the opportunity to escape started to slip away. Skulking out of the door's shadow, Lucy kept the three women in sight while she hugged the walls in order to back out of the room.

With a determined look on her face, Lucy could feel her pending victory as she saw her own shadow on the floor leaving the room. A smile broke out when she past the threshold with the feeling of freedom growing stronger. Within seconds of her leaving the doorway Lucy bummed into something much taller then she was. Using her hand to feel the object on her back, Lucy discovered fur and scales while leaving a sticky residue on her finger tips. Looking up at the object, it looked back at Lucy and made a strange 'chirp' sound as its head twitched like an eagle's.

Its wings spread filling the hall quickly as the creature started to show signs of nervousness as it bounced on its front legs like a horse. Lucy tried to also stay calm but, similar to the creature in front of her, her nervousness overpowered her body causing Lucy to scream out in terror while the creature replied with a screech of its own.

The three women ran out from the room just in time to witness Lucy throwing her chunk of rock at the creature's beak then taking off running down one of the corridors.

"Wait, there is no need to run." one called out. "We mean you no harm."

Lucy didn't dare slow down; she kept running in panic tiring to find a way out from this dark and damp dungeon. After a while of running through several rooms, tripping over crumbling floors and hitting dead ends, Lucy finally found a hall with a bright light at the end of it. She could feel and smell the fresh air that re-energized her second wind as she once again took off running for freedom.

"I'm doing it, I can't believe I'm actually doing it, I'm going to escape this place." Lucy yelled happily as she entered the light. "Natsu, Happy, I'm here." Lucy called out expecting to see her friends close by.

Existing through the door way, Lucy soon found her self in a whole other world. She was welcomed with the cool breeze and warmth of the fall sun while running through a golden grassy plain that soon led through an orchard adorned with trees that were once extinct on Earthland. Looking around as she ran, Lucy turned to see the castle towering over her, unsure of where she was, and what was chasing after her, it didn't take long for Lucy to run into a stranger accidentally tackling them down a shallow hill.

As the couple landed at the bottom of the hill, Lucy rubbed her sore head and soon realized she was sitting on top of the person she hit. Meeting eyes with a woman whose brown hair that was once tied up hung loosely on the ground, she gave of a familiar vibe, she looked like,

"It's you," Lucy shouted out as she tried to keep the warrior monk pined to the ground.

"It's me," she replied with her hands up by her head, "and you are sitting on a fracture in my thigh, so if you would be so kind,"

"I'm not moving anywhere until you explain why you brought me here," Lucy shouted out again forcing more pressure onto the warrior's leg.

As the warrior winced in pain, she chuckled to her self nervously and looked back up to the blonde with warm steel-grey eyes. Her gestures reminded Lucy of Natsu, serious when in battle, but childish outside of a fight.

Quickly manoeuvring her body so she could roll and pin Lucy to the ground, the warrior stared back at the blonde with a victorious smile. "It's not nice to ignore someone's request when it involves an injury."

Just before Lucy could start a fight, the sound of foot steps running towards them caught her attention. "Ami," the husky woman shouted out "Thank-goodness you caught her."

"Well, she kinda' caught me," Ami replied only to receive quizzical looks from the three women. "Uh, never mind. Where was she?"

"She was in one of the cells under ground," the younger one mentioned.

"Guess the castle is still expanding. Was she too much trouble?" Ami asked giving a little bounce on Lucy's torso as Lucy whined in complaint.

"To us no, she managed to sneak by when we were looking for her in one of the larger rooms. But she did manage to startle my Chimera Spirit. Even threw a rock at him," the middle aged women replied.

"He would have eaten me, I had to do something," Lucy called out from under Ami who now sat cross-legged.

"Speaking of which, where are her spirits?" the husky woman asked again.

"I have it all taken care of. But for now-"

"Quit talking about me like I'm not here," Lucy shouted from her pinned down status using her fists to repeatedly hit Ami's 'good' thigh.

"Oh, you're still down there?" Ami's attention was brought back to Lucy as she shifted her weight.

"Where else would I be? You forced me into this position, remember?" Lucy argued back tiring to roll Ami off her body.

"Actually, you tackled-"

"Hey that's right, you went down below today. How was it?" The middle aged women asked gesturing to Ami's bandages.

"Not bad, I had a great fight with a mage; I believe he was a Fire Dragon Slayer, but man' was I rusty. I also took on another mon-"Ami explained but was cut off by the younger women.

"Well it shows Ami, You're pretty beat up. If I didn't know any better I'd say that the mage won that round."

"heh, only thing that made a lasting impression was that pink hair of his. But it was a close fight. Felt good to finally have a scrap with out holding back on someone within my power range." Ami smiled in reply.

"What are you talking about, if it wasn't raining-"Lucy tried to argue but was also cut off.

"Have you gone to see one of the Healing Spirit mages yet?" the husky one cooed.

"I had Tomo bandage me up not too long ago. You know healers; their spirits need 'time' to create any decent healing medication, and it has no shelf life either." Ami replied as her body started to sway back and fourth as Lucy once again tried to get rid of the weight on top of her body.

"Well if you have things handled here, we'll take off then," the middle aged woman replied as she took several keys out from her holster and summoned four animals. "I summon the Eagle, Lion, Horse and Snake spirits. Combine."

As the middle aged women gestured towards her four keys, a magic circle appeared underneath her, followed by the four animal silhouettes adoring the barrier of the circle. Like smoke, all four shot up above their master to form the animal that Lucy saw earlier.

Landing gracefully and trotting to its master's side, the animal took one look at Lucy and grunted at her. Never taking its eyes off of the blonde, the three women straddled the creature. "Chimera, that's enough." Its master cooed softly, patting it on the shoulder.

With another gruff, the beast took to the skies and headed past the golden fields towards the castle walls, leaving both Ami and Lucy awe struck.

Using the opportunity of distraction as her chance, Lucy pushed Ami off of her chest and rose up to her feet. Taking a running start away from the injured warrior, Lucy froze in her steps when she heard a jingle of keys.

Looking back at the brunette with steel-grey eyes, Ami sported a smug smile on her lips. "Knew that would do the trick."

Lucy just stood with a hard glare on her pale face. She was still sweating out a fever, and her body was ready to drop at any moment.

"Make you a deal, yeah?"

Lucy just glared at the young woman with hard eyes. She wasn't about to trust this monk, but with her keys being within reach, how could Lucy take a second thought.

"Since you're officially trapped here, you need to know the rules of how this 'game' works. Sit and talk to me for a while and not only can I grantee your fever will break, but you'll get your keys back and possess what we, up here, call freedom."

"What if I don't talk to you?" Lucy asked suspiciously.

"Then chances are you're gunna' suffer for the next-" Ami stopped to look at the setting sun "Three hours, maybe die."

"What if I just grabbed my keys and-"

"Look, I'm pretty sure I can survive longer in a battle with a fractured leg and a beaten up shoulder then you can on zero magic. You wanna' sit and talk to me. What do you got to lose?" Ami asked curiously. "Now, help me up."

Hesitating, Lucy slowly made her way to the girl who, not too long ago, was the enemy. Holding her hand out, Ami tried to grab Lucy's hand only to have the blonde pull away. "Keys first, Ami."

With a slight chuckle, Ami handed Lucy her keys while shaking her head, "Ami, it's pronounced like Ah-Mee. Not Amy."

Lucy rolled her eyes at Ami's pronunciation; she tried to attach her keys back onto her belt when Lucy soon realized her clothes were different. Lucy's loose sweater was replaced with a white, soft yellow and peach robe like garment that fell just short of mid-thigh with complicated straps that wrapped around her body, leaving a cowl to fall down the sides of her rib-cage that gave glimpses of her milky white skin and a large hood draped along her back. Her blonde hair was tied up in a loose knot with several stray hairs falling from it while her bangs framed her face.

After Lucy studied her outfit, she placed her keys inside her robes for safe keeping then looked back at Ami who was currently fixing her hair that fell just short of her bum back into a loose bun. "Damn hair, this never used to happen in the monastery."

Ami's robes were simpler with darker colours of grey, navy blue and white which almost resembled a traditional monk style robe and pants with the cowls of draped fabric flowing on the sides of her hips, and back. The cowls, like Lucy's, exposed skin and a large full back tattoo of sand script and detailed circles. Her beads still hung from her wrist and chimed with a pleasant sound as Ami tied off her bun off to the side of her head nestled just under her ear.

Looking back at Lucy, Ami smile and like a child held out her hands to gesture being picked up. "Well?"

Hesitating, Lucy finally made her way and helped lift Ami off the ground, soon finding how small and delicate her body was. If Lucy wasn't distracted by how much volume the drapery added onto the warrior's body, Lucy would have assumed that Ami was quite frail. It was a wonder how she didn't have more then just one fracture.

Watching Ami limp away, she gestured for Lucy to follow her. After a little while Lucy could finally see, what appeared to be the edge of the island just a short walk away. "Ami, are we-"

"On an island, you know it, but don't worry its not as bad as you think." Ami replied. "First, drink this. A mage with no magic is good as a dead man. It will restore your magic just enough to keep you out of danger, and I do suggest drinking it quickly. Anything that has healing properties typically has an expiration date of an hour."

As Ami explained, she handed Lucy a familiar purple twisted glass bottle, which contained a milky white substance. The bottle brought back waves of memories of Natsu. Looking at her tattoo and remembering his squeaky yet deep voice, Lucy tried to conjure up courage to help get through her current situation.

Realizing the bottle was already open; Lucy pulled the cork out of the neck and smelt the liquid. Unlike before, the liquid smelt delicious. Taking a sip of the liquid quickly turned into Lucy downing the liquid as Ami watched.

Once the liquid was finished, Lucy wiped her lips with the back of her hand and examined the glass container. "We have these bottles back in Magnolia."

"Wouldn't surprise me, she was from Magnolia. She'd traveled most of Earthland healing people," Ami replied hobbling towards the edge.

"Who's 'she'?"

"One of the healers, she's been in the healing practice for over forty years I believe. Once upon a time, she's even healed Dragons. Now she's one of our best healers."

While Ami's story gave Lucy a hunch as to how Natsu received the bottle, Lucy couldn't help but think, '_Was Natsu sick as a child?_'

Lucy so desperately wanted to ask questions about this healer, but decided that now wasn't the time. What she needed was answers to why she was here and when she could go home.

Sitting down on the edge, Ami let her feet dangle and blow in the wind. Holding onto the earth, she looked over the edge and smiled to her self as she embraced the gust of wind blowing in her face. Looking back at Lucy, Ami gestured for the blonde to sit beside her on the ledge only to see Lucy sit adjacently with a sour look.

_Well I know the feeling, Of finding your self stuck out on the ledge._

"Before I get into the rules, is there anything you want to get off your chest. You must hate me right now," Ami said with a sincere voice while looking out from the island.

"Why would you do this? What did Sohei or any of us do to you?" Lucy asked with a serious voice.

"Sohei wasn't supposed to be there, the idiot."

Before Lucy could pry into the 'Sohei' topic, Ami quickly continued with, "I was sent down below to retrieve you and only you, but as you could see things were complicated."

_Take it from someone who's been where you're at,_

"Is it because of the Celestial mages-"

"It's because you are a Celestial mage." Ami cut Lucy off with a harsh tone. "You and everyone else who is brought to this god forsaken island."

_And you're not sure you can take this anymore._

Ami continued to explain that everyone on this Island is a Celestial Spirit mage of some calibre. They are all different in skill and ability, and all have different keys, truly one of the most unique styles of magic because of how impossible it is to replicate. Ami is one of a selected few who often is sent down below to retrieve 'wild' Spirit mages and bring them back to this island. Against her will, Ami is put into a trance that takes over the ability to mover her body, or ability to perform basic functions like talking or use magic.

"The real kicker, every time we are sent down below, the spell becomes more adapted to our bodies, thus making it harder for the, lets say 'vessel', to fight back. Why I bet you were still able to move some parts of your body or have full use of your senses before you were beamed up here." Ami quirked a smirk, only to take Lucy's silence as a yes.

"Me, I could only feel a fraction of the damage inflicted during my battle with you guys down there. Imagine how my body reacted when I regained full control over it."

As the wind started to blow through their cloth robes and loose strands of hair, Lucy looked out to the horizon and saw nothing but a body of water and clouds.

"You know your lucky right?" Ami continued as her eyes studies Lucy's, "When I get sent to capture Celestial mages, almost every time when I find them, they are alone. On occasion they will have a companion, but never had I seen such a large group when I found you."

Lucy didn't speak; she just gave Ami a quizzical look as a gesture for Ami to explain.

_Everybody's hit the bottom. Everybody been forgotten,_

"See Celestial Spirit mages have one issue." Ami stated, "They all feel like a burden when it comes to a team atmosphere. Although they are loyal to a fault that doesn't make up for skills they lack. The skill be to outrageously strong, abnormally fast, have superior vitality or create an outstanding defence are all things that a Celestial Spirit mage will probably never obtain. That's why they have their spirits. Take the spirits away and what do you have left?"

"Just a person," Lucy finished

_And left a little empty handed, so if you're out there barely hanging on._

Ami nodded her head in agreement. "Lucy, you've been fortunate because you have friends who stay by your side. Why, that cocky Dragon Slayer of yours was fighting with everything he had just to keep you. But it's because of the flaw that most Celestial mages feel the need to separate them selves so-"

"They can't cause issues for their team,"

"If you can hear me now Lucy, know that I'm reaching out to let you know that you're not alone."


	9. Chapter 9: Forever or Never

**Chapter 9: Forever or Never– Cinema Bizarre**

While she gazed off into the setting sun, the Ami's robes and beads flickered in complaint as the wind carves its way though the fabric. Lucy now sat with her back towards the monk, hiding her face behind her knees, her robes danced with swirls of colour.

"Everyone up here is a type of Celestial mage." Lucy murmured as she looked towards the castle to see all kind of creatures and elements flying around. "Even you?"

"I did say everyone," Ami replied.

"But you're a monk."

"For every mage there is a monk who can possess a similar ability," Ami replied. "You just know them as 'styles.'"

"Then what 'style' gives the ability to force a gate closures on another spirit?"

Ami stayed silent, never taking her eyes off of the sun, the wind continued to play with her hair. "It's not the keys. It's just difficult to explain right now. "

"And I guess being female monk is also 'difficult' to explain? You're not very good at the monk thing, huh?"

"Heh, I am devout but I'm not good at giving those wisdom filled monk answers like the rest of my brothers," Ami explained with a smile. "You are not to see answers now, time will reveal it. Be patient."

"Well that sounds more like a monk," Lucy responded, the warrior to smirk in appreciation.

Taking in a deep breath, Ami gently rose up from the ground without inflicting too much pain to her damaged leg. Finally catching her balance, Ami looked at the blonde mage whose miserable emotion manifested across her face. "I don't believe in miracles, I never did. So I don't expect you to believe much of what I have to say,"

Lucy looked up at the monk with glossy eyes. How can someone in the likeness of a monk not believe that good things can happen? Lucy knew that it would only be a matter of time till she'd see her team mate's faces again. But for now, she has to stay strong.

"You know, everyone up here will take one look at you and say the same thing," Ami spoke with seriousness as she walked past the young mage. "Forget about him, he'll never walk beside you; he'll never fully understand you. This is a new life your able to live."

"Just because everyone up here gave up hope, doesn't mean I will," Lucy spoke through her teeth. "My friends are looking for me; they won't give up just because it's hard. We'll stick it out until the bitter end because that's what Fairy Tail is."

Lucy held onto her hand with the pink marking of Fairy Tail, this tattoo was all the hope she had left in the world.

"Fairy Tail, huh?" Stopping in her tracks, Ami turned to face Lucy with saddened eyes. "Many of us had our past lives on Earthland taken away. Don't damn us for trying to rebuild them here."

Lucy thought about the monks words and she felt sorry for the people trapped on the island, but there was no way in Earthland that a mage from the greatest guild was going to give up just because the odds were against her.

Walking over to the young mage, the monk took on a serious expression. "Unlike you, many of us have spent years trapped up here. We have nothing waiting for us. No friends, no family, no guild." The monk continued, "And I don't believe in Fairy Tales, their too cynical. People like you stop and stare at the situation, but I let it go. I continue on."

With a gesture to tag along, Lucy obeyed the monk orders and followed her towards an orchard. With the sun no longer in the sky, the warmth of the day suddenly took a chilling turn.

"I know you are leaving soon," Ami started with sarcasm in her voice, "But humour me. The castle is fuelled by the magic of Celestial mages."

The power of Celestial Spirit mages, when combined and cast properly, has the ability to create an ancient shield that is undetectable by all known magic on Earthland. Spirit mages have a high concentration of magic and defence as a result the shield takes on the same traits, making it truly one of the strongest spells known to all mages.

It's only known weakness is the amount of magic needed to sustain its self. Without a minimal quantity of magic, the shield will weaken and fall.

The shield is known to have four stages:

In the first stage, the shield gains the ability to also absorb all magic attacks inflicted on both the outside and inside.

"To create a shield large enough to cover this Island would take more then a hundred Celestial mages of a high ranking level," Ami explained with a haunting tone. "That doesn't even begin to cover what our shield is capable of."

Once it reaches the second stage, the shield surrounds the island in massive dome with a ten kilometer radius; it has the ability to repair itself, and deny access to any person or object with a magic status.

"If nobody can get in or out, how are any of us here?" Lucy asked as she passed a large leafless tree.

"The original caster of the spell, or master, can turn the shield 'on' and 'off,'" Ami explains as continues to lead Lucy through the orchard, plucking fruits from the trees.

At the third stage, the shield can be deactivated at will by the original caster; the shield will also gain the ability to tap into the master's desires becoming a GPS.

"That's where I come in. At random: hunters are sent down below to seek out and retrieve powerful objects, rare magical items and high levelled Celestial Spirit mages. The shield cannot pin point the exact location, but it can give a five kilometer radius which makes the hunters job difficult, and since we have a time limit we don't always find the target before we get 'beamed' back up," Ami continued to explain referencing to their battle back on Earthland.

Also during the third stage, when the master deactivates the shield, it will disappear into the shape of a thunderstorm.

'_So that's the reason why it always rained when I saw the castle_,' Lucy thought to her self as she walk up a large set of stone steps while eating a fruit that tastes strangely enough like cherries and peaches.

Following closely behind the monk who is ever-so-light on her feet, Lucy slips on a moss covered step. Before the blonde could lose her balance, a hand reached out and squeezed onto her wrist just in time. Looking up at her savour, Lucy met eyes with a pair of warm steel-grey orbs, staring down at her.

"You need to be careful here, Lucy. The Shield demands magic in order to grow, so we all need to become stronger to survive the constant drain of magic energy. As the shield grows; it gets stronger, smarter and continues to rebuild the ruins," Ami once again explained to Lucy as she pulled the blonde back onto her feet. "It's essentially repairing the castle as we speak. Also known as stage four, becoming its own entity."

Catching her footing once again, Lucy looked up at the monk with exhausted eyes. "There is so much to take in about this place, it's overwhelming."

"Its strenuous I know, but that's the shield starting to drain your energy again, how's your fever? Did the drink work?"

Lucy was caught of guard, she didn't even realize that some of her energy was back and her fever was gone. "I didn't even notice, guess it really did work," Lucy mentioned as she felt her for head for a temperature.

A warm smile lit up the monks face, Ami turned on her heels and continued to walk up the steep walkway, while making a mental note to look back at her companion more often.

"I'm sure this question is coming so let me beat you to it, the original mage who cast the spell is named Seto."

Seto is a powerful, self proclaimed 'God' and highly trained Mimic mage. His abilities allow him to absorb magic from any mage with just a touch. It's been said that he's learned over a thousand styles of magic but can only 'keep' a small amount of abilities in his arsenal.

The Mimic mage - Seto - was originally raised a Celestial Spirit mage but after years of cruelty and abuse towards his spirits and turning gold keys black, the Celestial Spirit King finally stepped in banishing the mage from the spirit world.

"Gold keys black?"

"It's a term we use when a spirit dies," Ami explained as she led Lucy down a rocky path covered in moss, vines and fog. "Believe me, they can."

Of course, no spirit has the ability to banish magic from a user, so the King appealed the case to the last living relative of the Celeste blood line, the creators of Celestial Spirit magic. It was only then that Seto was truly banished from using any Spirit magic.

Today, Seto still has a passion to obtain the magic he lost; he firmly believes it to be the most divine out of all styles known on Earthland. As such this island is his dream, create a supreme civilization and expel all others who think differently, with or without the ability to use the spirits.

"You'd think he'd hold a grudge, but I guess he went one step further and thought 'Why use a type of magic when you can rule the whole style?' the ultimate payback to the one who banished him, I guess."

"Why a castle?" Lucy asked as she looked up at the ruins.

"Simply because the ancestors of Celestial Spirit mages were traced to living here at some point," Ami replied "The ruins was another find by the 'great master' him self. But thanks to the shield, it's quickly regaining the former glory. Ah, we're here."

A Rundown wooden door towered over the two girls. Tapping a tune on the timber of the make-shift fort, Ami glanced over at Lucy who stared at the doors awestruck. "It's another area that's rebuilding its self," Ami mentioned then continued to proceed through the door. "Tomo, ya' home?"

"Bout' god-damn time you came around, Ami. These spells don't last forever," a strong voice echoed.

The room was surrounded with scented candles that melt into the walls. They left nothing but the smell of mint and lavender wafting through the space. Distressed fabrics fell from the ceilings and covered the floors like banners while splintered wooden beams threatened to collapse under the weight of the stone roof. The room its self was cluttered with tables, book shelves, and dirtied rugs. But strange enough to Lucy, the setting gave a homey sensation.

Walking into the space, Lucy studied several bottles on a near by table. Several were in strange shapes, sizes and colours but only the purplish-blue twisted bottles caught her eye. Amongst the bottles were different jewelled colour objects, leather bound books, plants of strange origins and odd medical supplies.

"Hurry up and undress your wounds. I don't have all night for this crap, Ami," the voice appeared once again.

Looking around for the source of the voice, Lucy was taken back at the sight of a very short, child-faced woman that materialized from the draped fabrics. Her white hair was tied into a tight bun with several plants growing down her back, leaving Lucy fascinated. Lucy became so drawn to the woman's piercing blue eyes and translucent skin that her unique style of clothing didn't even register in the young mage's head. Crossing the blond mage's path, her aged body glided through the room with the sound of gold keys clicking against her hip.

"Who the hell are you?" the woman asked as she past the blond mage.

"Lucy, the one I went down below for." Ami replied as she pulled the last of her dirtied bandages from her shoulder.

"Oh, so you're the one who put this good for nothing monk in her place, huh? Well good for you, Ami's head was starting to swell."

Ami replied to the insult with a low groan as she undressed her injured leg.

"Oh no-no, it wasn't me. It was my part-"

"Well that's unfortunate, would have made a great trophy," Tomo commented as she turned her attention to the girl-monk. "Are you ready yet?"

Walking past the Celestial Spirit mage, Tomo gracefully floated over to the monk and climbed a set of books as to be eye level with Ami. After instructing the monk to sit in a particular position, the woman looked at the heavily bruised leg. Placing her warm hands onto Ami's flesh, she pushed the leg to one side then another evaluating the damage. Once Tomo was satisfied, she gently pressed against the bruise.

"Let me know when it hurts."

"What do you mean by-" Ami asked but was cut off by a swift blow to her leg. "Holy-"

"Don't you dare cuss in my practice young lady. I forbid it." Tomo commented as she turned her attention to Ami's shoulder.

Nursing her leg, Ami replied "I wouldn't have to if your methods weren't so eccentric."

The old mage rolled Ami's shoulder in circles while adding pressure to the socket; finally she came to a conclusion. "Blondie, pass me the plant over there in the cooking pot and the green circular bottle on the end table."

Following her orders, Lucy turned to retrieve the objects at the near by table. Looking back at Tomo, the young mage was met with a large spirit that took up a fair amount space within the room. The spirit its self was a dark hazy mass of a human dressed in a leafy cloak, animal horns grew from his shoulders and head in a circular pattern. His long beard grew from his face and, similar to Tomo, had plants growing down its lengths.

Startled by the sinister looking mass, Lucy stumbled dropping the cooking pot onto the floor, spilling the contents.

"He's impressive, I know. Grannus is one of my key spirits. Just give him the plant and bottle." Tomo replied as she forced Ami's head against her opposite shoulder as she gave off an apposing groan.

"You'd think that she's never seen a spirit before," Tomo commented towards Grannus, who nodded in agreement.

Placing the bottle into the folds of her robe, Lucy gingerly lifted the plant from the floor and with roots in hand; she looked up at the misty spirit with wide eyes.

"What kind of spirit is he?" Lucy asked as she placed the plant and bottle into each hand of the spirit.

"He is a Celtic spirit of healing and mineral springs." Tomo answered as she pointed to the injury on Ami's shoulder and let the spirit go to work. "Go in seven inches to the right and circle around the joint."

Grannus opened the circular bottle and poured half of the liquid onto Ami's skin, then lay a bony hand onto the injured shoulder. Tomo's instructions continued to echo through the room as light radiated from under Ami's skin.

Lucy watched in amazement while master and spirit worked together as equals while they continued to heal the injured shoulder. Once the spirit pulled his hand away from Ami's body, Grannus followed his masters lead and moved to Ami' leg, this time using the plant as a medium to heal the injury.

"He's amazing," Lucy gushed as Ami's leg finally stopped glowing.

Grannus stepped away from the monk as his master started to inspect the work in detail. Carefully, Lucy made her way closer to the strange spirit. "I'm sorry about my reaction before."

The spirit looked down at Lucy with curious yet confused eyes. He looked at his master then back to Lucy, only to bow slightly in appreciation.

"He wishes to tell you that you're too kind," Tomo translated without so much as a glance away from Ami's healed limbs. "Your skills have improved again, Grannus"

Both Lucy and Ami smiled at the approval of Tomo.

"Lucy, what spirits do you hold contracts with?" Tomo asked as she stepped down from her tower of books.

"The zodiac spirits," Lucy replied as she placed a hand on her leather case of keys.

"Which one?"

"She is lucky enough to have contracts with the Astrological spirits and a few random spirits. But I don't believe it's a complete set," Ami replied as she glanced over at her companion who nodded in agreement.

Before Tomo could continue the conversation, she goes quiet. Looking at Ami, they both frown a bit.

"I guess that's my cue, I really was hoping I had more time." Ami sighed as she quickly placed her naked shoulder back into its sleeve.

Confused, Lucy looked between the two women. Something was off and the room felt less homey as a result.

"Take her with you; I can't have a young mage cluttering up my practice," Tomo replied

"You and I both know I can't, just let her stay with you for the night. I haven't found a space for her to stay yet, and she doesn't know much about the Island," Ami replied as she headed towards.

"Your one basic task a hunter and you can't even do that right," Tomo complained.

"She's from Fairy Tail. Isn't that where your best friend Porlyusica resides?" Ami once again replied as she opened the door. "Lucy, I have to head off for a while, but you'll stay here with Tomo for the night. I'll come collect you in the morning."

"But what's-" Lucy tried to speak but was suddenly cut off.

"Give my blessings to your spirits." Ami bowed before she dissolved into the night.


	10. Chapter 10: Fallout

**Chapter 10: Fall-Out –Mariana's Trench**

"God forsaken child," Tomo cursed under her breath as she moved around the candle lit room. She continued her rant about her hatred for the 'younger generation', while carefully placing books back into hidden shelves and bottles on metal racks.

The old woman kept her self busy both physically and mentally. To Lucy she was a smaller version of Porlyusica, the healer who once resided in the Fairy Tail guild.

"Tomo-san?"

"Don't 'san' me child, I don't need those honorific titles," Tomo barked as she placed a particularly large book back onto the shelf, proving her strength to be great despite her size.

"Erm, well, I just wanted to say how grateful I am that you allowed me to stay with you. Even though Ami's ways is-"

"Completely and utterly intolerable." Lucy smiled as she replied, "Something like that."

"Yes well, if you can agree upon that then my judgement hasn't failed me," Tomo replied as she kicked another book back into place. "Medicine, why did I have to go into medicine? Porlyusica was always better at it then I was and all you ever do is clean. Naturally none of the spirits know how to 'clean up' after them selves. Like children they are."

While the old mage continued her rant, Lucy, as if on cue, tried to summon Virgo. "I open the gate of the maiden, Virgo."

A golden circle faintly started to surround the summoner's feet, Lucy held up the golden key to her faithful maid, Virgo. Wisps of wind started to form in front of the mage but no spirit appeared, forcing more magic into her cast, Lucy whispered, "Come on Virgo, I know I have enough magic to support you,"

"Hime, I know you have the power, but I'm afraid it's a small amount," a sweet voice appeared.

Lucy now stood in front of her summoned spirit, light headed. "There you are, Virgo."

"Mustn't you punish me now? For appearing in the human world while you're still so weak?"

"No, Virgo. You wouldn't have come if I didn't summon you," Lucy replied.

"Silly girl, listen to your spirit. If you're weak, how much power do you think your spirit will have?" Tomo replied without a glance at the newcomer to the room.

"I will be ok. I need to become stronger so I can get out of here as soon as possible. Virgo, can you help Tomo clean up this room?"

"Grannus's master? The healer?" the purple -haired maid asked while focusing on the small mage. Lucy nodded her head wearily to confirm the spirits question as she leaned against a wall.

"As you wish Hime, It's an honour to meet another spirit's master. Grannus speaks of only the best." Virgo mentioned as she took the books out from Tomo's hands. "Allow me." In matter of minutes, the room was put back together and in the rightful place. As expected, Virgo made quick work with minimal magic intake.

"Hime, please be careful for now on. Only summon us when you must, Leo is very concerned. Even though he's blocked from entering this island, we both fear that some of the spirits may be too powerful for you to summon now, jeopardizing your contracts with them."

"Nonsense, she will summon who she pleases when she pleases. If she doesn't, then you will no longer have a master, which is the nature of this Island if she doesn't practice her magic. Tell the spirits that their master is being well taken care of, and her power will soon return," Tomo interrupted with authority.

With a gratifying bow, Virgo was gone just as quick as she was summoned, leaving nothing but a cold silence between the two mages. "I like that one, she's quick, cleans up after her self and she is devoted. Give her my thanks for cleaning the practice," Tomo commented just as a jingle of keys hitting each other answered in response.

Satisfied with the room, Tomo made her way to a near by counter while commenting, "Well, might as well get you settled in, you need tea."

"It's alright, Tomo. I'll just go to sleep and-"

"Blondie, the sooner you learn to accept a gift the better you will understand the world, now sit down." The mage ordered as she pulled tea pot with several cups from the counter.

As commanded, Lucy sat beside a near by wooden table and once again Lucy saw yet another fascinating spirit from Tomo's arsenal. Several glowing robes in the softest of colours draped across the spirit's body, along with a white scarf that draped around her bare shoulders, her long white hair floated up above her head through several golden rings while her robes danced like they were underwater.

Once more, Lucy was transfixed on the beauty of the spirit's face of white porcelain skin that blended into the hairline seamlessly, brilliant purple eyes, a faint glow in her cheeks and soft pink lips. Speechless, Lucy continued to gaze at the doll-like spirit when it kneeled down beside her, brushing against Lucy's thigh accidentally, and with a blush, simply bowed and inched herself away from contact. Looking back up at the young mage, the spirit gently touched Lucy's blonde hair and for a moment both mage and spirit shared soft laughter.

"Her name is He Xiangu, a Chinese deity. She has the power to heal mental and physical health by simply using a lotus flower." Tomo's voice echoed through the room, "Curious isn't she?" The spirit stretched out her naked arms in such a delicate way, as if asking for permission to make contact as she gingerly inched towards Lucy's leather holster that carried her keys.

"What does she want?" Lucy asked Tomo from across the room.

Looking towards her ghostly white spirit, Tomo nodded gently and sat at the table with an iron tea pot in hand. "She wants to make friends with your spirits."

"Really, spirits can do that? When I was transported into the spirit world, I only saw my spirits." Lucy replied with a happy tone as she pulled her case out, laying each gold and silver key into the deity's hands.

"Think of the spirit world like our world. Every collection of keys becomes their own 'country' and very rarely do they get to see, let alone interact, with other spirits from a different 'country'. I'm still surprised your Virgo knew my Grannus."

Lucy watched as the spirit picked up each key and for a moment her purple orbs glowed with happiness. It was obvious that the spirit was introducing her self to each key and friendships were being made, until she reached the key of the lion. Lucy shuttered. A deep red colour spread across the spirits face, she forcefully shoved the key into the case and pushed it back into Lucy's hands. With a pout, the spirit was finished with her social interaction. Grabbing the iron tea pot and a lotus flower from her master's hand, she carefully opened the lid and started to go to work.

"What happened there?" Tomo asked Lucy from across the table, "He Xiangu is speaking in riddles."

Lucy sighed at the moment. She knew all too well how Loke was, picturing the spirits introduction to each other only made Lucy drop her head in shame and looked down at the lonely key in the leather case, _'you couldn't stop being a playboy for one introduction?'_

"Just be glad I don't have the energy to summon you, or I would have-" Lucy started but was suddenly sidetracked. "Tomo, when Virgo mentioned that Loke – Leo- couldn't come through, she was referring to my magic level, right?"

"Unfortunately no, your spirits have already picked up on how the island works," Tomo mentioned as she watched her spirit work.

When the shield was strong enough the master – Seto- made a new rule that no magic bearing male, human or spirit can walk the island grounds without his consent. This resulted in the males being drained of magic power and death unless they got outside of the shield quick enough.

"I'm sure you already know about how the shield stops all magic from leaving or entering the island." Tomo mentioned as she pushed several cups towards her spirit nonchalantly.

"But if I cannot use my-"

"Ami is, hopefully, working on your male spirits acceptance in the island," Tomo cut Lucy off, "You need not worry."Lucy nodded, and sat quietly. The thought was selfish, but Loke wasn't the male she was worried about, it was Grey and Natsu.

Sensing Lucy's distress, He Xiangu glanced over and placed a hand onto the mage's shoulder. She delicately placed four cups of tea in front of Lucy and encouraged her to drink. "She can't expect me to drink all four of them," Lucy asked Tomo nervously.

"Hmm, it would appear that she made the extra three cups for your spirits. Place the females in the cup on the left, males on the right and-" Tomo stopped as a smile grew on her face. "It would appear that she made the fourth cup for the lion." Lucy glowed at the spirits generosity then took notice to the texture difference in the fourth cup, "What's in the fourth cup?"

"Ice, to take away swelling." Tomo laughed in amusement. "She has a fine sense of humour."

Lucy also laughed at the gesture and deemed it appropriate to place Loke in an ice bath. Looking back at the spirit, Lucy took a slip of the tea and smiled at the fragrance and sweet milky taste.

"He Xiangu has made the tea to help restore you, and your spirits, to full mental and physical statuses," Tomo explained, "It might not take effect until tomorrow."

Finishing the cup quickly, Lucy could feel the difference. Even the tea in each of the other cups almost disappeared just as quick, with the exception of Loke's. Placing the cup back onto the table, Luck smiled at the spirit in appreciation, after several more helpings the spirit disappeared.

"Because Ami did a piss-poor job at informing you about your 'new home' I have to teach you. So listen carefully."

Every mage on the island suffers from the same issue, the constant magic drain due to the island's continuous growth. If a mage lets their magic level drop too low, the island will start to feed on their life source and potentially kill them. Consequently, if all mages were killed, the shield too would be destroyed, but to sacrifice hundreds of spirit mages is completely out of the question. In order to keep the effects at bay and have minimal effect on their daily lives, training is mandatory. Each mage trains in his/her own special way meditation, or battling are the popular choices.

"Despite what you might think, the mages here live a good life. We may live like prisoners, but we aren't treated like them," Tomo explained in-between sips.

Another issue Ami neglected was to find Lucy a room to call her own; many mages here live their lives as if they never left Earthland. Instead of paying rent with money, you'd pay with goods such as medical supplies, repair kits or food. This is also why its idea to train and work your spirits.

"Ami explained that she was a hunter, but what is it she does exactly?" Lucy asked.

Ami is apart of a special elite group of mages on the island. They are some of the strongest, most skilled and longest surviving 'prisoners' on the island. Besides being hunters, they are also Seto's soldiers. Because they have been here for so long, and since their power levels are so high, they are easily taken over and put into a trance like state, just like when they are sent down to Earthland to find magical items and spirit mages.

"Even though Ami is one of the longest captives on the island, her will is strong. She hasn't giving her self completely over to that bastard who keeps us all here. I guess that's one good thing about that childish fool, she still has her own mind and she does anything for her-"

"Nakama," Lucy finished and reminisced over what the word meant to her.

Tomo watched as the blonde was clearly suffering from homesickness. "Can I give you one piece of comfort?" Lucy looked up at Tomo with confused eyes.

"Ami, even though she is a monk, possesses something that connects the two of you. She holds a set of zodiac keys as well. The Chinese zodiac, but I have never seen her use them."

"That's why everyone asks which I hold," Lucy cleared up. "They are confused over hers."

"No, nobody knows about her keys, or if she even holds them at all," Tomo continued after another sip of her tea. "And technically there are several kinds, all of whom are located on this island. Your zodiac is the rarest and the last to be captured." Tomo explained "Shame it's not a completed set."

Lucy made a face at the old woman.

"But keep that information to your self. Ami doesn't even know that I happened upon her secret." Interested, Lucy perked up, "How did you come across it?"

Tomo was hesitant to speak; the memory seemed to haunt her mind. But slowly she pieced together the words." One night, she was brought to me so damaged; I thought that she was long dead. It took all my magic and three other healers just to get Ami in a state where she could breathe on her own. Nobody knows what happened to her, just that she went down below for something and was ambushed."

Lucy stayed quiet, thinking that I must be hard keeping her feelings locked up. "The secrets you give, and the secrets you keep."

"Nerveless, when she was laying there on the table, I wanted to give up and just let her go. She has fought enough for us on this island and after this long, she shouldn't have to." Tomo looked away. "Anyways, I was cleaning up after my spirits and I came across it. A red leather pouch that was hidden in the folds of her robes, a full set of zodiac keys inside. I didn't have to look at the keys to know which zodiac they were."

Silence passed by the two mages, as candles flickered and drapes swayed, "She was always so god damned polite and composed," Tomo looked up once again. "Did you know that Celestial Spirit mages are born through genetics?" Tomo asked and received a nod from the young mage. "Well then, who in your family is a Celestial Spirit mage?"

"My mom was. She died when I was real young, I never knew until just recently." After Tomo passed on her condolences to the blonde mage, silence fell once again to the table. "Say Tomo, can the dead come back to life?"

Tomo stopped mid sip of her tea with an irritated look on her face. "Don't be stupid. Not even the greatest mage can bring back a human soul."

"So you haven't seen anyone up here that looks like me?"

"No, and rest assured, I've healed most of the citizens up here. I can show you the records from my patience on both the island and Earthland. What is the name of your Mother?" Tomo asked as she walked to a near by book shelf and pulled out a thin diary.

Lucy thought for a moment, even though she knew her mother was dead, there was another question she was dying to know. "Natsu Dragneel."

"Strange name for a lady," Tomo asked before she started her search.

"He's from my guild, but I think you must have run into him as a child. Before I came up here, he gave me a bottle similar to these." Lucy gestured to the potion rack, "he said it would bring me luck if I drank it. A lot of luck that did me, I'm up here. "

Tomo looked at the blonde with a stale face. "You didn't really drink it, did you?"

Lucy decided to keep quiet, she already knew it was a mistake and the memory was bringing back the horrible taste of the liquid. Tomo sighed and looked through her diary, which held more pages then that the original appearance leads on. "It 'brings luck' huh, I remember telling that white lie to many children so they would take their medicine."

"If it helps jog your memory, he would have been with a dragon, a large red dragon named Igneel."

Tomo stopped in her tracks and looked up at the blonde with shock. "I remember now." She mentioned as she swiftly searched for a particular page with anger bubbling to her face. "That child was," Tomo stopped and reminisced over her client, "I never knew dragons to take children as their own, and I've herd rumours but never crossed paths with one until that day by the beach."

Many years ago when Tomo was much younger, less experience healer, she was a traveling medical practitioner. Using her magic in cities, towns and villages was her way of income and experience. But one day, the main road to her destination city was blocked, forcing her to take a detour through the woods towards a beach. Halfway through her detour she came across strange prints and pieces of red scales buried in the sand; little did Tomo know she was tracking a large dragon.

Eventually when the paths split curiosity got the better of the healer, encouraging her off the detour path and towards a cave carved into the cliff side. At the mouth of the cave, Tomo finally solved the mystery of what object was shedding scales, she was soon face to face with a red dragon whose power resided in fire.

Angered, the dragon tried to scare off Tomo, but she was not to be fooled. The dragon was not aggressive at random, it was protecting something. Dragons are known to be dangerous and violent, but to this healer, the dragon's actions and expression was similar to a parent with a sick child who hasn't slept in several days. Being a medical practitioner, Tomo seen her fair share of sick children with worried parents.

Walking closer to the enraged reptile, who was clearly too big for such a small cave, Tomo managed to get close enough to see a small child curled up in a corner, wheezing for air and terribly thin. It was that moment when Tomo's healing instincts took over.

"It didn't matter to me that this child was with a dragon," Tomo explained as she laid her diary on the table with Natsu's name written in calligraphy. Next to his name was a long word that Lucy couldn't understand, let alone pronounce.

Tomo managed to talk the dragon down, she explained that she was a Celestial Spirit mage who specialized in healing humans. The dragon replied, in a rough roar that echoed through out the cave that said, "Safe him."

"I diagnosed the child, Natsu, with a rare sickness that attacks the lungs. It seemed like the boy was eating fire because his mouth, throat and most of his insides were terribly scorched. I soon learned that he was training to be a fire mage, but he wasn't properly expelling the flames from his body, thus the toxins started to poison him. Natsu would have died within a day or two without any medical help," Tomo recalled as she continued to read the diagnostic on the diary.

It took Tomo a good day and a half to repair the child's body, and after the first hour of medical treatment, colour was coming back to his cheeks, his skin was supple and he could breathe easily. By the end of the day, the child was slowly starting to eat 'human' food again.

"So tell me, what's your name little one?" Tomo asked the child.

"I'm not that little, lady. My name is Natsu."

"And where are you from?" the mage asked but no reply came, only a glance at a dragon.

"Can you tell me where your parents are?" Tomo tried once more.

"He's right behind you, are you blind or something?" Natsu answered with confusion to the question.

Tomo looked over her shoulder to see the worried dragon watching her every move. Threatening to kill if one thing went wrong, "You don't mean the dragon?"

"Hey, Igneel is the best Father in the world, who else can say they have a dragon as a parent. He's teaching me to become a dragon too!" Natsu replied with spunk in his voice, a great sign that he was taking well to the medication.

"But your human, you can't possible be a dragon."

"Not true, He told me that I will be one some day. That I will eat fire, break boulders and everything."

"Even fly?" Tomo asked with a smile.

"No, humans can't fly, dummy." Natsu pouted at the 'silly' question.

Tomo took the information in and realized that the child was actually eating fire to be like his 'Father'. "Natsu, you can't eat fire anymore, it's not good for you. That's why you were sick."

"No, I got sick because I ate some bad fish. Igneel told me not to, but I ate them anyway," Natsu replied as he tried to lift himself up off the ground.

Tomo watched in amazement, Natsu had incredible healing power. Watching his pink hair bounce through the air as he ran to his 'Father' was both adorable and worrisome. Little Natsu was welcomed with a grunt from his dragon parent, and it was that moment where Tomo could live with leaving a child alone with a dragon. _'Where does a dragon find a child?'_

"Natsu, I have something to give you before you leave," Tomo called out as she reached in her bag.

"If its medicine, you can throw it in the ocean, cause' I wont be drinking it!" Natsu commented while sticking out his tongue.

"But if you drink it, the liquid will bring you luck. Don't you want to become a dragon?" Tomo said with a sly voice.

"More then anything, and I will be wont I dad?" Natsu shouted happily.

"Then take these," Tomo handed the pink hair boy a case with six uniquely shaped bottles.

"Whoa, pretty colours, but this one is too girly. So you can have it, you need luck too." Natsu replied whole holding a pink bottle up to the mage.

"But it matches your hair," Tomo laughed only to receive a glare in complaint.

Tomo took notice to the dragon as she continued "Natsu, I want you to drink one bottle every day until there are no more. They will stop any fire from harming you ever again." Igneel understood Tomo's instructions, and nodded.

"This way you can be a true fire dragon. Maybe one day you'll breathe fire instead of eating it." Tomo smiled at the little child who still held onto a dragon for support. And with a toothy grin, Natsu agreed. "I can already hold fire, want to see?"

Curious, Tomo agreed to let the boy give her a demonstration, kneeling down in front of Natsu she nodded in anticipation. "Ok here I go," Natsu started and raised a small hand up and ignited the skin until a small ball of fire appeared.

"That's very good!" Tomo cooed, clapping. Natsu's grin turned devilish, "I'm not finished yet."

To Tomo's confusion, she soon understood what he meant. The small boy cried out "Karyu no Tekken, Fire Dragon Iron Fist."

The cave filled up with flames in the matter of seconds, clearly a technique that is being developed. Once the fire burned down, Tomo whimpered in complaint. "I'll take that pink bottle now."

Lucy broke out in laughter, so much that her sides started to hurt. "I can't believe it; he was capable of that much fire power at such a young age."

"That jerk was dangerous, he was supposed to be cute like most little boys, but instead he lit me up. It took me weeks to grow back my eyebrows!" Tomo yelled in complaint. The room echoed with laughter for several minutes, Lucy could only picture the face on the proud Natsu and the Unimpressed Tomo. "You have to admit, Tomo. It was cute."

"Chea', little did I know that the twerp wouldn't listen and screw up the basic task of drinking the medicine on schedule. It was a liquid to fire proof his body quickly and properly. He probably did more harm to his body then what was needed by skipping that last drink."

Lucy smiled at the story, things about her partner made sense now. "You know, he's a full fledged Fire Dagon Slayer who, as you said, eats and breaths fire. He can even set his skin aflame." Lucy gushed over her partner, whose memory made her a little more homesick.

"And what of," Tomo stopped to look at her diary "Igneel?"

"He went missing in the year 777, Natsu would find his way to Fairy Tail and, up to this point, live his life there. "

"He's the partner you mentioned, the one who took on Ami?"

Lucy nodded and once again, her expression became sad. Before Lucy's appearance could get any more disheartening, Tomo rose up from the table and gestured for Lucy to follow, showing her where she'll stay for the night.

Parting ways, Tomo closed the door behind her and continued to her own chambers, the only sound was an echo of a distant memory of a boy with pink hair.

"I promise I'll be a true dragon some day, just you watch!"


	11. Chapter 11: Try

**Chapter 11: Try – P!NK**

Streams of warm sunlight pouring into the small room were the only known thing to wake Lucy from her slumber. No amount of noise, or alarm clock, could do the job more efficiently then the sun. Still groggy, Lucy sat up from her comfy pink bed and stretched. With a satisfied groan, she looked to the window and greeted the blue skies, which were decorated with cotton-like clouds. It felt good to have the whole bed to herself for once.

As she slowly woke her self up, Lucy struggled to make out the usual soft snoring of the fire-eater and his blue-furred sidekick, only to realize the room was completely quiet. With her face still pointed towards the sky, Lucy assumed that maybe her luck had changed, not only did she get the bed to her self, but her whole apartment. Now she can have a bath, cook her self a small breakfast and take her time to get ready before she headed off to the guild.

'I wonder when Natsu will be here,' Lucy thought t her self. For some reason she was anxious to see his pink hair and green eyes, smell his spicy scent, and feel his presents like she always did.

_Where there is Desire,_

_ There is gonna be a flame._

Deciding to start her day without the blue exceed and her partner, Lucy folded the quilt over and proceeded to get out of bed, but something was wrong. The room wasn't the right colour or shape, her floors which used to be hard wood was now tile, the pink fabric of the quilt was a mixture of reds, oranges and golds.

Waiting for her eyes to adjust, Lucy was soon met with the harsh reality of where she was: on the Island. Her bright and relaxed persona quickly melted away, leaving nothing but reality and loneliness.

_Where there is a Flame,_

_ Someone's bound to get burned._

Lucy frowned while she brought her knees to her chest. She hugged tightly as the memories of last night came flooding back. "That's right. He can't walk on the Island. Even if I do get stronger, how am I going to get back home?"

_But just because it burns,_

_Doesn't mean your gonna die._

Rubbing away the stray tears, she slowly started to change back into her loose robes when she was greeted with the sounds of panic from the practice. Quickly stashing her key holster into her robes, Lucy ran out the door and headed for the main room, ready to fight.

Standing in the entrance way with a key ready for action, Lucy was greeted by chaos. Five or six spirits were roaming around the room while several people waited to be treated. Tomo was hard to spot due to her size, but soon appeared on top of her usual tower of books beside her patient.

"Tomo, what wrong? Who's attacking us?" Lucy shouted out as she hurried to Tomo's side, "What can I do to help?"

"Well first, you can get the hell out, your cluttering up my practice," Tomo replied with agitation. "What did I tell you Hana, you use that move again and you'll rip open the muscle."

Lucy was confused at the commotion, but a friendly face in the crowed seemed to calm her, the Spirit of He Xiangu. The deity drifted over to Lucy's side and with playfully pulled at the long blonde strands.

Lucy smiled and took notice to the spirit's hand; she was holding another cup of tea. The spirit offered it to Lucy and once accepted, she floated away to mind other patience.

'_Master and spirit working together to become strong, must be nice._' Lucy thought to her self as she took a sip from the cup while thinking of her fishy spirit with a testy temper, 'working together from all sides,'

"Blondie, this may be a slow start to my day, but you make it worse by milling around. Hurry up and drink your tea. He Xiangu will bring you out to the field." Tomo spoke with irritation as she worked on her patient.

"I'm going where, the field?"

Tomo looked up, frustrated once again of Lucy's presents," Yes. You're going to train out there just like all the other mages."

Voting against her decision to carry on the conversation, Lucy drank her tea and started for the doors when a spirit crossed her path. Looking back at Tomo, she whispered into the old mage's ear, "These aren't all of your spirits, are they?"

"Course they are, who else would they belong to?" Tomo replied as she tied a tight knot on Hana's arm, Hana groaned in complaint. "Quit your whining, it's punishment for not heeding my advice."

"But Tomo, you can't possibly summon six spirits at once," Lucy asked with genuine concern in her voice.

Finishing with her current patient, Tomo headed towards another table. "You're right, I should have summoned all twelve, but unfortunately I don't have the room. He Xiangu, get her out of here."

And just like that Lucy was hurried out the doors, spirit in tow. Readjusting her robes Lucy looked back at the closed timber doors and stuck her tongue out. "What a fine way to be greeted for the day."

With a soft giggle from her side Lucy remembered, the Chinese deity was close by. Her robes have changed in colour and style since the previous night, but her white hair still flowed upwards through several golden rings, like the tail end of a ghost. With a gesture for the mage to follow, the spirit led the way through a mossy covered path stopping only for a moment as she reached for a colourful flower.

Taking in the scent, the spirit showed her new friend the discovery. Lucy smiled at the gesture but caught off guard when she was suddenly forced to turn around. He Xiangu ran her fingers through the mess of blonde hair until it lay smooth, then quickly the braided the strands into an intricate five strand braid, tying it off with the flower she just plucked.

Once finished, the spirit smiled and continued to lead the way as Lucy marvelled at her handiwork. "He Xiangu, is there anything that is not beautiful about you?"

Before long, Lucy was lead to an open field similar to a large sports stadium. Hundreds of mages must have been in the area summoning their spirits as practice. Lucy was awestruck at the unique creatures floating, running, flying, and battling each other in the open space. Turning back to He Xiangu, Lucy bowed in appreciation.

_You've Gotta Get up and Try,_

_Gotta get up and Try._

The spirit started her departure leaving Lucy confused, "H-hey, are you going back to the practice?"

The spirit shook her head pointing to the flower in Lucy's braid, reminding her that Tomo's sprits often are sent out to retrieve medical supplies.

"Oh, you have to search for more lotus flowers for your tea?" Lucy guessed and the spirit shrugged as if to say 'Kind of.'

"Well I'll head off first, and maybe meet you again sometime. Thanks for the tea." Lucy bowed to the spirit and took off running into the field. _'To have a friend who is on the same wave length as you, like Tomo and her spirits, must be handy. '_

Once Lucy was a fair distance away, she slowed her run to a walk. She could feel the Island draining her body of magic already; it felt like a heavy gravity pressing down on her, making her movement's sluggish. _'If only Natsu knew what was going on up here, he might be able to help,'_

"Ugh, I thought I wasn't supposed to feel the effects of this stupid magic drain," Lucy whined, "And I haven't even summoned a spirit yet today. How does Tomo manage to open six gates? It's suicide."

"It's because you're a weakling." Ami's voice rang like a bell through her giggle.

Looking over her shoulder, Lucy made eye contact with the monk who appeared to be in top health. Standing proudly, her beads chimed as they flowed with the wind.

"Here, I found your bag," Ami mentioned as she threw Lucy's pack into her arms.

Happiness bloomed across Lucy's face, "Thank-you Ami, this is my favourite bag and I was so upset when I lost it," Lucy exclaimed as she nuzzled the fabric, "Where did you find it?"

"The thrown room, but never mind that. You should be able to summon your male spirits now, I'm sure Tomo explained the whole lack of 'male' interaction," Ami explained.

"Yeah, that's one messed up rule. And being honest, this Seto guy is sounding pretty sketchy." Lucy commented while pulling the pack over her shoulder. "I mean, common. He has a god complex and he keeps women on his little island."

"Huge Island actually," Ami corrected.

Lucy stopped her rant and gave an irritated glare to the monk. "Anyways, is this guy a deformed monster, or a spoiled child?"

"Well no, some find him very handsome," Ami explained, "But terriblely tempered. You'll meet him soon."

Lucy made a face as she tried to object but was interrupted by two girls entering the conversation.

"Ah, just in time, Lucy these are your sparring partners, Yuka and Kai Lan."

"Oh, hi there."

Lucy was pleased to make new friends, but it felt wrong. It was almost like Ami was trying to replace her team-mates, her guild. But Lucy understood that she needed to get stronger soon, so these girls might just be a good way to accelerate the process.

Ami continued the introduction, "Yuka is holds the keys to the planet while Kai Lan holds the elements, both very formidable opponents who have been on the Island for about two or three years."

Looking at the two girls, Yuka seemed as shy as a dove while Kai Lan was as explosive a fire cracker. Before long, Ami was leading the group towards a patch of field to start their sparring.

"Listen up. I'll sit in for this session just to make sure everything runs smoothly, but don't go thinking I'll be here every time." Ami gestured for them to pull their holsters out. "You see Lucy; all keys are connected to one another. Whether it's through a similar element, animal, attack or origins, the key holders' must find the connection and strengthen it. Some mages don't wish to make a connection but often find they have no choice, strength is in numbers and once a bond is made, magic transfer is possible."

"Magic Transfer?" Lucy asked.

"If your connection to another celestial spirit mage is strong enough, you can transfer some of your magic and energy," Yuka replied.

"Handy as it is, you must first make the connection," Kai Lan reminded the group, "Don't worry Lucy, we all have each other's back, nothing to worry about. Now let's fight."

Ami raised a hand in silence, "One more thing before we start. Lucy I know you're fresh and still learning how things work up here, but an ideal goal for you will be to summon all your spirits at once within a few months. Kai Lan, you're the farthest ahead, will you demonstrate?" Ami gestured to the field.

"I'll do it in one," Lucy voiced strongly.

"One month to achieve full summoning?" Yuka asked with curiosity.

"Sure, I'll do my best!" Lucy replied with a proud voice as she continued to think to her self about growing stronger in order to be reunited with Natsu once again.

Walking a good distance away, Kai Lan stopped and faced the group with fierce eyes. "I like her style, you just have to practice and get better then the other mages, and even if it means pushing your self so hard that you could die."

Ami shook her head "Your being a bit dramatic, Kai Lan."

"That's why we have healers Lucy; you might want to make a connection with one of them soon. But for now, I'm going to show you what a true celestial spirit mage can do."

And with her fierce determination, a large circle started to glow from under Kai Lan's feet in multiple colours, with a deep breath Kai Lan held her key holster in her right hand as she raised her left above her head. A ball of light formed over the key holster when twelve strands shot out and evenly surrounded their master along the barrier of the circle.

Lucy was fascinated with the power, but soon realized that her new partner was panting, hard.

"I summon thee, gates of all elements," Kai Lan forcefully spoke.

Just as her words were heard, the spirits started to take shape behind their respective keys. Lucy was too fascinated with the action to really see the detail of the spirits. But just as quick as the spirits manifested, they all disappeared except for one, the water element.

Collapsing towards the ground, the spirit caught her master just in time and gently lowered to the ground, onto the spirits lap.

Clapping, Ami made her way to the exhausted mage. "Very good execution, you need to learn how to hold the spirits longer so they can stabilize."

Kai land looked up to the monk and nodded in thanks. "No problem, next time all of my spirits will surround me."

With a proud smile, Ami directed her attention back to the other two mages, "Out of you two, who has the most direct link to a water spirit?"

A moment past and Yuka raised her hand, "Technically Aquarius is an air element, despite her mermaid form and water based attacks, but Cancer and Scorpio are classified as 'Water' elements."

Lucy watched Yuka with wide eyes, _'She knows so much about my spirits, yet there isn't any information written down about Celestial Spirit mages.'_

Yuka added in, "Which means that they follow the planets Pluto, Neptune and the Moon, if you classify Pluto and the Moon as planets."

'_Written down information,'_ Lucy continued to think to her self as she readjusted the strap that irritated her shoulder.

Deciding that the bag was too heavy, Lucy placed it back to the ground to see if there were any objects she could part with when she came across a note pad and the purple glass bottle. Seeing these two objects made a smile grow on the blonde's face. _"Letters don't need magic to be written or sent. Maybe that's how I can reach Natsu,"_

Interrupting her train of thought, Ami's voice continued, "You just made your first connection. Continue the sparing."

Yuka followed her orders and walked to Kai Lan's side, Ami witnessed Lucy rummaging through her bag, ignoring the monks order. "Lucy, I didn't give you the bag so you can get distracted from your training."

"Ami, can you give me a few minutes, I need to," Lucy hesitated, "Washroom."

Confused at the blonde's intentions, Ami pointed in the direction where to go and watched as she ran off, bag by her side. "Need someone to show you where it is?" Ami called out.

"No, I'll find it!" Lucy called back.

Once Lucy hit the forest path, she took off running in search of the island's edge. While running as fast as she could, Lucy passed through several gardens and orchards, spirits of all shapes sizes and colours and even other spirit mages. All who cared enough to look her way watched Lucy run with little interest. Lucy even stopped to ask for directions a couple of times, for the island really was 'huge'.

_You've gotta get up and try,_

_Gotta get up and try_

After a while, the sun hit its peak and threatened to set, leaving Lucy in a panicking state. Ami would be out looking for her, and it would only be a matter of minutes before the monk would track her down. But the edge wasn't anywhere in sight. Loosing hope, the mage stopped to take a breather, forcing her body against a leafless tree. Falling to the ground, she forgot how quickly her magic was being drained.

"I need to find the edge soon," Lucy stated to herself.

Finally pulling her bag on top of her lap, Lucy rummaged through until she found two key items, a pen and a pad of paper. Taking a moment to sort through her thoughts, Lucy starter to vigorously write down everything she's learned about the island. She wrote down its stages, weakness, magic drain, rules, citizens, issues with males and, of course, Seto. On the paper, Lucy explained that she wasn't being harmed and that she was learning so much about her style of magic. She explained that her plan is to get stronger so she can rescue her self and leave the island.

The words _'Things might seem impossible for you to find me, reach me, save me. But I promise on my honour as a Fairy Tail mage, I will come back home. Wait for me.'_ Was her last statement before she signed her name at the bottom of the paper.

Looking over the five-page long note, Lucy realized that she wrote a letter. But who does she address it to. After a moment of thinking it over, Lucy quickly scribbled a name onto the top of the first page and rolled all five notes together. Pulling out the bottle Natsu gave her, Lucy plunged the letter and the flower in her hair into the bottle then sealed it over.

Kissing the base of the bottle Lucy thought to her self _'If we have any luck at all, this bottle will find you.'_

_Try, Try, Try._

Placing the bottle into her bag, Lucy pulled our her key holster, looking at the keys she knew that there was no way she would be able to summon them all like Kai Lan, she wouldn't even be able to summon most of her stronger spirits,

"Don't worry everyone; we'll make it through this," Lucy comforted as she pulled out one particular silver key, "Pyxis, I summon you."

Once Lucy's words became a command, the red penguin like compass appeared in front of his master. With a happy jingle and goofy face, it waited for the next command.

"Pyxis, can you tell me which way the edge of the Island it?"

The spirit was happy to oblige its master, taking a moment to find the requested destination, the red penguin danced and pointed in the direction.

"Ah, thank you Pyxis, you can go back now." Lucy smiled.

Once the spirit disappeared, Lucy debated if she had enough energy to summon one more spirit, Horologium. Deciding against it, Lucy took a chance and once again headed off running in the direction that Pyxis directed her.

_Gotta get up and try, try, try._

Luckily for this mage, the edge of the Island was only a few moments away and with it in sigh; a whole new inspiration bloomed inside of Lucy. Approaching the edge Lucy stopped just short of the edge and fell to her knees, choosing to crawl the rest of the way. Once there, she sat on her knees and inhaled the smooth crisp air that blew in.

"This is a good spot" Lucy mentioned to her self as she looked over to see nothing but ocean, "The bottle was washed with tap water, the paper was bought at the store, the pen belonged to my fathers old office, nothing magic about it."

Pulling the bottle out from her bag, Lucy took one last look at the bottle then towards the horizon. Holding the bottle out by the neck, Lucy made a silent prayer that the bottle would make it through the shield and maybe, just maybe, someone will come across it and be kind enough to deliver it to him.

Lucy released the bottle from her hopeful grasp.

"You better not let me down, ya' hear me."

Watching intensively, Lucy couldn't make out if the bottle would even pierce the shield, since she was so high up, but deep down Lucy knew the bottle was free.

_You Gotta get up and try._


	12. Chapter 12: Safe and Sound

**Chapter 12: Safe and Sound – Taylor Swift ft. The Civil Wars**

_I remember tears streaming down your face, when I said I'll never let you go._

"We'll get you out, hang on," Natsu yelled frantically as he continued his barrage of punches, "Just a little longer Happy."

Natsu already knew he had no magic left and he was running on an exceedingly low reserve of energy. Soon, Happy's limit would hit, dropping the fire mage out of the sky like a slain dragon.

_I remember you said, don't leave me here alone._

"I'm sorry Natsu, Lucy," Happy's voice echoed as everything turned grey.

_Natsu…_

"Lucy."

This was it, the moment that would decimate a dragon. It starts with the stomach dropping and then gravity takes its toll on the body as it falls from grace, finishing off when flesh meets earth. Through the pain, pressure and devastation, anger takes over and the world goes dark.

The dragon is slain, but born from the ashes is a beast that craves destruction. It's this creature that takes hold of the soul and plunges it into such regret and sadness that the senses go blind and the mind refuses to remember what it's about to do.

The body breaks down and succumbs to fire. "…you will kill your self."

Skin turns to scales as ash pumps through the veins. "She's gone."

Bones crack in complain as teeth turn into fangs, nails to talons. "...The thing most precious…"

The monster inside wishes to be released, it's so close that it crawls up the backbone and seeks access to the mind, but it will be smothered and locked back up inside before long. Where the ash, fire and blood reside, waiting for the moment of weakness.

But for the moment you become what you really are.

"…I'm gonna' destroy that…"

Green eyes shock themselves open as sounds of panting echo throughout the room. Cold sweat rolls off the skin and dampens pink hair while muscles tremor in anticipation.

"Just a nightmare," the fire mage mentions as his breath condensates in front of him.

_You'll be alright; no one can hurt you now_

While rubbing his eyes, it didn't take long for Natsu to realize he was on a hardwood floor, a typical bed whilst he slept over at Lucy's. With his eyes adjusting to the light in the room, Natsu took notice at the smoke like breath he forced into the air after he'd exhale. In Lucy standards, it was 'cold.' Confused, the dragon slayer wondered why his partner would open a window during such season.

"Lucy, I thought you hated the cold-" Natsu stopped as he got caught off guard by the numerous bandages around his hands and arms. "Hey, why do I look like one of those toilet paper guys?"

No answer came. To his left Natsu expected to see a pink fluffy bed, the mage was met with a rice paper door, ajar. Looking past the threshold, Natsu made out trees, wind chimes, and a stone garden emerging from a thick blanket of fog. The sky was painted grey and pink, but not the pink he expected to see.

_Come morning light, you and I will be safe and sound._

Suddenly reality sunk in, pain is inflicted onto his heavily bruised body, memories flood back and the feeling of defeat looms over. Quickly sitting up, Natsu grabs onto his ribcage and winces in pain as he realized that he hasn't rapidly healed like usual due to his low level of magic. "What the hell happened, why my magic is so low?" Through his confusion, Natsu now noted that the bedroom to be empty, most of his body is warped in gauze and sounds of chanting flow with the fog.

"Where am I?" Natsu mumbled to him self.

In a state of panic, Natsu tried to pick up Lucy's or Happy's scent but after his first whiff into the air, the Fire eater held his nose and reached for his scarf to help block the odour, only to find his scarf wasn't there, "Ugh, you gotta' be kidding me," Natsu whined as he looked around the room for his prized possession.

His attention was yet again distracted as he looks down on his body, something doesn't feel right. Moving the sheets of wool, Natsu soon finds himself to be in long white, yellow and orange robes, red beads wrapped around his wrists and brown socks. "Socks? ok this has gotta' be a dream," Natsu complained with a monotone voice as he ripped the cotton fabric off his feet.

"Natsu, you're alive," cried the blue cat as he tackled his fathers' neck.

Through the nuzzling and purrs, Natsu complained, "I didn't die."

"Yes you did, but funny eyes fixed you like a broken toy, and even made you all pretty like a doll."

"Sohei did what?" Natsu asked pulling the cat from his neck and holding him at arms length. "Please tell me he didn't dress me too."

Struggling to keep hold around Natsu's neck, Happy suddenly stopped his affectionate attack and sniffed the air, "Nay, Natsu. You smell pretty too." With his eye twitching in frustration, Natsu placed the cat onto the futon and continued to unwrap him self.

Happy started to pull the gauze off Natsu's right leg as he continued, "He said that mages aren't allowed in the temple right now, so he had to dress you up like one of them and sneak you in, like a ninja."

Natsu glanced back at the cat, reminiscing. "I do like ninjas."

"He told me that I have to act like a cat so people some suspect anything, but how do I manage that Natsu? I don't know anything about cats."

"Happy, you are a cat," Natsu cleared up for his friend proudly.

"But Natsu, I'm not good at acting under pressure" Shaking his head with a soft smile, Natsu was relived that at least he saved one of his friends.

It didn't take long for all of his bandages to be unravelled, with the last ones on his torso Natsu decided to leave them. The pain in his chest was still too much to handle and he didn't want to look at the damage. Carefully, Natsu placed his weight on his shins and knees in an attempt to steadily rise up from the floor, feeling each and every muscle complain about the movement. "Happy, how long was I out? My body feels like I haven't moved in-"

"Three days," the cat finished.

"What, three days. Nobody tried to wake me?" Natsu shouted.

As the mage level off on his feet, the dirty gauze bandages fell from his body in a soft pile on top of the blue exceed. Struggling, Happy tried to crawl out of the fabric while trying to answer, "We tried, but we needed a prince to come wake you up."

Natsu froze and looked back at the cat, "You didn't."

"No, I wanted to get Grey or Elfman but Sohei said you needed your rest," Happy explained as Natsu imagined a passionate kiss from either of his guild-mates; it was enough to make the young slayer sick.

Composing him self, the mage walked towards the rice paper doors, Natsu took in the crisp air on his skin. He was thankful that the robes he was dressed in kept his left shoulder bare, showcasing the vibrant red insignia. But before he made his way out into the stone garden, the exceed pulled at his robes asking to be picked up and placed on his shoulder.

"I can't fly remember? And I'm not good at walking on all four legs yet."

With a sigh escaping his lips, Natsu lowered his arm for the cat to jump up on. Following his gesture, Happy was soon perched on Natsu's shoulder and started to direct Natsu on where to go.

"Nay, Natsu. Where are your socks? This is a temple," Happy whispered. "It's rude to walk bare foot."

Natsu groaned and walked back into his room. After the putting the socks back on had been dealt with, Natsu and Happy carried on walking through the wooden passageways. Before long, Natsu and Happy met with an older man whose white beard flowed close to the ground; his half-opened eyes gazed up at the mage and took note of the colourful cat. "Nastu, that's the abbot."

Happy whispers seemed to catch the ear of the abbot, who looked at the cat curiously. With out any idea on how to act like a cat that he was supposed to be, ball of fur quickly flapped his paw in front of him like he was a maneki-cat in a restaurant, "Nyaa-Nyaa."

Natsu swallowed his chuckle, never before had he herd Happy actually sound like a cat. Truth be told, he really wasn't good at it.

"What luck it is to have a cat who beckons me," the abbot smiled which put Happy in panic mode. "Well, here I come little one. What good fortune will you bless me with today?"

Sweating drops of pure nervousness as his partner struggled to hold in his laughter, the old man walked closer and raised his hand to the cat. "Nya?" Happy expressed with nervousness in his voice. Happy's eyes went big with worry until a pleasant surprise was laid upon him, the abbot placed his fingertips behind the cats ear and began to scratch them gently, causing Happy to tear up in relief.

"Old man, can you tell me where to find a monk," Natsu asked bluntly, forcing Happy to roll off his shoulder in shock. _'Natsu.'_

"Such youth, you are in a temple. Your fellow brothers are all around, whom in particular do you, seek?"

"Funny eyes," Natsu answered with a happy tone and his signature grin.

The abbot stared at Natsu for a moment before sporting his own smile and laugh, "Brother Sohei, you mean. He shouldn't be hard to locate today."

The abbot turned and started to walk down the passage, gesturing Natsu and Happy to follow. And as suggested, Natsu walked behind the abbot forgetting about his friend who now had to continue on all fours. "Nyaa-Nyaa," Happy called out as he raised a paw to his best friend.

"Hurry up Happy," Natsu called out behind him which earned him a glare from the cat, _'I will bring you nothing but bad luck, Natsu.'_

As the group walked in silence through the passages of the temple, Natsu discovered many things foreign to him. Curiosity took over and every so often, he would ask the abbot what they were, why the temple uses them, what's the smell, what's the sound and any other strange unfamiliar objects he was confused about. And the abbot answered each and every one to Natsu with out judgement.

"Old man, why do those monks wear different robes them me?" Natsu pointed towards a circle of monks who were meditating, debating if he preferred their navy blue, grey and white robes over his.

"Because they are the temples strength, we call them fighting monks," The abbot answered calmly.

The temples fighting monks are monks who protect the temple, although they will never begin an attack they do, however, fight back if provoked. Their defence and magic are some of the strongest in Earthland and have been compared to the strength of mages within the magic council. But there is a reason why these monks do not cross the line into mage status.

"Although powerful, they are still monks who walk life pure as they can, so if they dabbled into too much magic they could turn evil. This is why we do not allow mages into the temple; it could corrupt the delicate balance," The abbot explained

"Mages are not evil, nor are guilds," Natsu defended thinking of his Fairy Tail and its members.

"Ah but there are dark guilds and twisted mages" The abbot stated leaving Natsu silent. "The monks do practice magic, but not the way mages do. The monks will strengthen their bodies by their martial arts, their minds with discipline and literature, and then purify them selves through prayer and meditation. The monks call their magic 'Holy magic' due to the excessive purification needed to achieve magic abilities.

The style, holy magic, is in a league of its own not recognized by the magic council due to the lack of battle experience, although, they sometimes contract our brothers out when it comes to decade or century ranked missions or if matters will affect the temple.

"You make them sound so strong and amazing, I think differently," Natsu mumbled at the taught of his last fight with the she-monk,

"Yes, which is why you were brought here unconscious and terribly beaten, how's your magic level by the way, young mage?" Natsu lost his breath, how did the abbot find out that he was a mage? He was dressed in the stupid clothing and socks wasn't he?

"I may be old, but I'm not yet blind to the world around me," The abbot answered Natsu's thoughts. "And besides, you wear your pride on your shoulder," the abbot gestured to Natsu's arm.

The two men talked about the differences between their life styles and magic styles. It would turn out that the old abbot was once a fighting monk himself, and quite powerful too. The abbot explained that the temple is not trying to seem contradictory to their beliefs in magic; because they practice the original intended use, protection.

As he reached down and picked up the tired blue exceed who fell asleep instantly in the abbots arms, the abbot continued. "I believe you are one of those exceeds I hear about in town, go on little fella, you don't have to hide your voice to me."

Natsu watched as his partner flopped his head over his shoulder, wordlessly. "Oi Happy," Natsu called as he shook the drooling ball of blue fur.

"Leave him be, pretending to be something he's not much have been hard on him."

A moment passed between the three males as thunder clouds started to roll in, threatening to rain.

"Young one, if you and your comrade promise to continue this charade in front of my monks, I will allow you to say here as long as you see fit. You'll have to stay dressed in the robes and of course; I don't want to influence the others who may interact with you."

Natsu readjusted his robes and shifted his position and then with a grin, he agreed to the terms. _'What's another hour in these clothes?'_

As the small group walked up a path that lead to a large shrine, the abbot smiled and gestured Natsu to continue on. Looking into the dark room, Natsu picks up the smell of charcoal and incense, ink on paper and human sweat mixed with spiced wood. In the centre of the room sits Sohei, with his head humbly bowed as he repeats a chant. "What is he doing, old man?" Natsu asked looking back at his guide.

"He too lost a partner, and like you, he too dabbled in violence," The abbot explained as he watched Sohei pray. "We monks are often described as ones who let it all go, and this is true but this soul lost the one thing that was precious to him, and I understand how hard it is to let go. But Sohie can't, for his heart is telling him that she's alive." The old man replied as he took watched the monk with sad eyes. "Everyday he comes here and he prays for the return of our lost monk."

While Natsu continued to watch depression in its physical form, he made a promise to himself that he will never become like the man in front of him. A man defeated in not just through a battle, but defeated in the attempt to save his friend.

"I will never be like this."


	13. Chapter 13: Mirror

**Chapter 13: Mirror – Lil Wayne ft. Bruno Mars**

Natsu glanced over his shoulder; the abbot was gone and left nothing but the strange scent that harassed his sensitive nose. Blinking a few times at the empty threshold, the dragon slayer continued the journey into the room of smoke wisps and lit by the foggy sunlight. Several statues surrounded the massive opening, including one giant wooden form located in the middle of shrine, whose icy glare made the mage feel like he was an intruder on holy land.

Sohei, still deep in prayer, felt the change in atmosphere due to the mage's presences and without changing his position, slowly gestured the mage to sit next to him.

Unnerved by the abbot, Natsu did as requested and took a seat next to the silent body, slowly removing the sound asleep cat from his shoulder. Looking back towards the monk whom was in mid-prayer, Natsu waited in silence. The slight wind present swirled the smoke around their bodies, while the smell of rain diluted the intense odour and purified the air.

After a few moments Natsu grew restless. He looked at all the statues, took in the ambiance, watched as strange sticks turned to ash and even counted the number of posts in the room. When he rocked back and forth on his hips like a child, Natsu let out several deep breaths of annoyance but in the last exhale of air, his mind cleared as the abbots voice played in his mind, _'…everyday he comes here and he prays for the return of our lost monk.'_

'I wonder if it made a difference, praying to wood.' Natsu thought to himself as he studied the monk's seated position then glanced up toward the wooden statue. In spur of the moment, Natsu mirrored what he saw and brought his hands to his chest as he folded his legs over. He'd admit it felt silly and was completely out of character, but something just felt right at that moment. Following the blind man's lead, Natsu closed his eyes and started to think about Lucy.

"_A Mage praying, how unheard of in this day and age,"_

Natsu refused to call his actions 'praying' because only religious people do those kind of things, instead he simply asked to who ever was out there listening to give, "- me one more shot at bringing her home."

"_Why?"_

"Because Lucy's place is with her guild, and her friends," Natsu whispered. "Where she can smile and-"

"_But, perhaps, she can make new friends and join a new guild. Ever think that she could be happy in another place, away from all of the violence that magic brings?"_

Natsu stayed quiet, he didn't want to think let alone accept the fact that Lucy could be happy elsewhere. As images of their last moments flooded his consciousness, Natsu winced.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you." Sohei's voice echoed through the room, which forced Natsu to realize that Sohei was the person whom he'd been talking to, not another worldly being. Glancing over the monks face, Natsu was positive that the monk had no sight, so why the sudden 'eye to eye' conversation.

In the silence between the two men, Sohei smiled as he let out a soft chuckle, "You think that because you're looking at me, I'm looking through you."

Natsu became more interested in Sohei every time they met. What kind of power allowed a blind monk to see but not actually have sight. "What can you see, funny eyes?" Natsu asked with curiosity.

Sohei's face went oddly serious as he dropped the smile. "I see the blood in your eyes," Sohei answered, pointing to his heart, "The love in disguise, pain hidden in your pride."

Letting a moment pass between mage and monk, Sohei continued, "I see you're not satisfied," whilst he scanned the mages body through his milky vision.

Natsu grew stiff as white eyes examined his body with such sadness, the chuckle that followed felt out of place. "-and I don't see anybody else, I see myself looking at a mirror on the wall."

Natsu shook his head as he raised his stiff body off the ground. Once standing, the mage glanced towards the preacher, replying whilst he started to tour the shrine, "We're nothing alike."

"I think we are, Natsu. I see nobody by your side," Sohei's voice echoed off the wooden walls.

Natsu rolled his eyes as he walked through the swirls of smoke. What could he possibly have in common with this man? They were on two different sides of the spectrum when it came to magic and just about everything else.

"I see the guilt beneath the shame," Shoei voice echoed like thunder once again, "I see the scars that remain."

Natsu stopped in his tracks and became startled when the blind man unexpectedly stood right beside him, eyes up to the giant statue. "What's your next move, Natsu? Plan to chase after something nobody can see, believe or understand?" Sohei asked after a he bowed to the statue then continued to lead Natsu out of the shrine, waking Happy up from his slumber along the way.

"Don't underestimate Fairy Tail, Lucy will find a way to get out of whatever she is in, if I don't find her first."

If Sohei had irises, he'd roll them by now. Instead he continued to lead the mage out of the shrine and down a mossy path. A path which led to a stone garden decorated with not just pebbles, but wood pillars and patches of lush bamboo. "If I may enquire to how the two of you will save your guildmate." Sohei asked as he once again continued their journey down the path.

The question left the dragon slayer and exceed lost for words, looking at each other for an idea the two turned their attention to the monk. "What would you do?"

Sohei sighed. "Building a plan last minute very, uh, brave of you," Sohei replied as he gestured toward the front gate with an open palm. "Whenever you are ready."

In excitement, Happy summoned his wings and took to the sky as he completely ignored that he is still in the temple and should be acting like a 'normal' cat. Natsu followed suit and happily ran towards the gate only to stop at the threshold. "Oi, old man. Hurry up, you need to show us which way," Natsu called out as he signalled the monk to his side.

"Us?" Sohei asked as he shifted his weight. "Who's 'us'?"

Natsu's face changed from happiness to slight confusion. "Just cause' you're a monk doesn't mean you can't help out. After all—" Natsu stopped as a determined smile grew on his face. "You're looking for someone too."

Sohei smiled and shook his head. "I'm afraid I have to decline your offer, seven years I spent outside of these walls and not once was I brought closer to my goal."

"Doesn't mean you should stop, you have Natsu and me now," Happy chimed in, "But if you're scared, Natsu can protect you."

Sohei's face didn't once twitch or change in expression, just dead seriousness whilst he gazed towards Natsu. "I have an idea on how to save your friend, but it involves you becoming a monk."

Happy broke out laughing. "Natsu, as a monk? He's a strong mage."

"A temporary life style change I assure you, Natsu. Just long enough for me to teach you several things." Sohei cut off the blue flying cat. "Think about it, under my guidance and knowledge, I can make your magic stronger ten-fold. All I ask is for devotion, patience and an oath not to use magic whilst you reside within the temple."

"I'm a mage-" Natsu started but was quickly cut off.

"Yes, yes, and you have a guild, I've herd it all before, and that's exactly why only you can help me with this," Sohei stated as he pulled a rough book out from his robes and held it out towards Natsu's voice. "This book, as hard as it is to believe that a blind man can write, holds all the information I could find about the castle, everything from names and dates of the celestial spirit mages who have gone missing, to sketches from witness sightings. All of this was recorded within the last seven years."

Natsu quickly took the book from Sohei's hands and flipped through the pages as Happy watched from his perched spot on Natsu's shoulder. Once he read some of the stories, Natsu couldn't help but compare them with things Lucy had mentioned before. "I've tried doing this as a monk, but I haven't gotten far. I promise you, a mage won't get much further," Sohei clarified, "Let me train you to become what I should have been, a saviour. With out me, you'll never defeat Ami."

Once Natsu inquired about 'Ami', Sohei started to explain that a long time ago, when he was a child, Ami came to the temple on a rainy fall night. At the time she was assumed to be a male due to her shaved head, and ill-fitting clothes.

"Nobody knew why a child was found alone on the steps of the temple until a week later. The abbot learned about a neighbouring village being destroyed in one night, he assumed she was one of the few who actually escaped the tragedy. On her arrival, the documents that she carried with her became wet from the rain which allowed most of the ink to run, including her gender, birth date, residence and the first part of her name." Sohei described.

Her documents introduced her as a boy named Ami, it would be years later that the original text of the document would be discovered. A boy named Ami was actually a female named Asami.

"It didn't help that she hit puberty late," the monk chuckled to himself. "She always had the worst luck."

Despite Mother Nature making up for lost time, quickly, Ami managed to hide her new formed body very well from the rest of the monks up until an incident which occurred when she was eighteen. When found out, the monks decided to keep her secret; she was still a 'brother' in their eyes. When the abbot learned of the situation, he simply laughed and chose 'not to believe' in the trick that the young monks tried to play on him.

"I'm positive that he knew Ami's secret from the beginning. I still don't know why he chose to protect her instead of sending her away." Sohei wondered out loud.

"Over the years, Ami developed into a strong fighting monk whose style became similar to a mirror. Ami could take an enemy's offence and manipulate it into a new attack, but only if the attack was elemental based. Then, in order to become stronger, she'd practiced her defence and martial arts skills until she became one of the finest fighters within the temple. She was named a true Holy mage. Not to be confused with the Magic Councils interoperation of Holy magic."

"A lot that did her, she's turned against you." Natsu mentioned.

"No, she hasn't." Sohei spoke with a stale voice. "Remember the story I told you about the lost monk from seven years ago, where do you think the battle ground was?" Sohei asked while he gestured towards the area they stood in.

Some of the trees were still misshapen, walls of the temple clearly renovated and grass covered pits in the ground served as a reminder to the loss of not only earth, but to the temple as well.

"Seven years ago, a mage by the name of Seto took her away from us. He caused such destruction to the temple that even over the years, nothing had fully healed. Seto changed her into what you battled the other day. The Ami we all know was an idiot with a passion for her friends and a desire to protect. Never would she attack unless it was to defend someone else.

"When she's under his control, no mage without the understanding of a fighting monk's skill will ever stand a chance. If I had my sight," Sohei stopped for a moment as a breeze swept past the grounds, the swirls of mist and fog dissipated under small rain drops, "I might have been able to match her strength. But if a strong enough mage with the knowledge of a monk should take her on, it might be enough to stop her.

"As much as I regret saying this, I understand that it may be too late for Ami. But I do not wish my pain on anyone. Natsu, your own partner may still have a fighting chance, but she won't be able to do it on her own," The monk warned.

In his childlike uncertainty, Natsu asked, "If I accepted your offer, will I ever be able to use magic again?"

"Natsu, no don't do it!" Happy begged in his friend's ear. "We can find another way to help Lucy, we still have the guild."

"Course you will, what I'm asking is you is to give it up for a period of time and live by the rules of the temple. In return, your power, defence and fighting ability will increase significantly," Sohei elucidated as he walked past the two mages. "Take some time, think it over."

Once the monk was out of ear-shot, Happy floated in front of his pink-haired partner, "Nay, Natsu. Let's go home now. Funny eyes doesn't know how strong we are. We can find Lucy together with Erza, Grey, and the others."

Natsu stood quiet and dropped his eyes to the ground, yes they would always have the guild but after examining the pits in the earth and the destruction that once thrived in the clearing, the dragon slayer wondered if this would become a look into the future if the guild was brought into the mix? Natsu walked down an aimless path only to stop in his tracks when a young monk practicing a strange dance caught his eye.

The child's head showed signs of blond stubble as his large brown eyes shined with determination as to get the steps right. Natsu looked toward his arm, which held the vibrant mark of where he belonged, and took in a deep breath as he slid his arm through the folds of fabric, temporarily covering up the red ink which blazed on his shoulder.

Decision made Natsu was once again was startled by Sohei's appearance. "That little'en thought he could take on a senior monk with only three months of training. Naturally he was beaten but it never seemed to put a damper on his mood." Sohei smiled "Glad to see he's still practicing."

"How long?" Natsu asked referring to Sohei's offer.

"How quickly you grow, the strength you build up and ultimately your determination will be the deciding factor on how long this will take," Sohei answered. "I'd guess several months."

Natsu thought to himself for a moment before he spoke "And Lucy will be safe, she will come home at the end of this?"

"I can't make that promise, all I can say is what other choice do you have?" Sohei answered as he closed his milky white eyes, "All I ask is that you bring me something home so I can finally rest knowing she's home."

Looking at the monk from the corner of his eye, Natsu griped onto his tattoo and inhaled a deep, cool breath and with a smirk Natsu answered, "I'll try my best to bring something recognizable back."

"Then we have work to do," Sohei humored the young mage as he started to walk back to the temple, "Oh, you can keep your hair. I think the hazing will do you some good."

Natsu pouted at the comment, and then looked towards his blue friend whose expression matched the colour of his fur. "Happy, I want you to fly back to the guild."

"So I can tell the others you're being forced to turn into a monk?" Happy's mood perked up, "I'm sure that would even interest Gajeel to come and save you."

"Who says I need saving!" Natsu shouted at the idea of having Gajeel come 'rescue' him. "I want you to give this book to Erza and tell her what happened, I'm sure she will come up with a better plan then this."

"What about you? Let's go back together, Natsu." Happy whined. "Or I can fly back and-"

"Stay at the guild and I'll come back when I can." Natsu forced himself to say with determination as he cut off his friend. "Sohei is right; I need to get stronger if I'm going to face off with that she-monk."

"But Natsu," Happy started as his friend quickly shoved the book into the cats green backpack, "If we get Gildarts, Luxus and maybe the Master to fight Ami,-"

"No, she's mine. Only I can fight her." Natsu roughly replied as he cut the cat off. "Besides, the Master is too slow, Luxus is too stupid and Gildarts isn't even in the same country."

Letting go of his friend, Natsu smiled once again, "Happy do this for Lucy, if I fail here, then at least we have the guild searching for her."

"Ok, for Lucy." Happy replied with a tear-streaked face as he started for the skies. "Come home soon!"

Natsu waved as his winged friend left the temple. Once Happy was out of sight, Natsu dropped his determined expression and exchanged it for hopelessness and sorrow. He didn't want Happy to see how destroyed he was that he let Lucy go, again. And he defiantly didn't have the courage to face the entire guild, let alone Levy.

"Natsu," Soheis voiced called out softly as he waited not too far away, "Smart idea, sending the book to your guild as a backup plan, but are you sure it's worth it?"

Natsu stayed quiet and kept his gaze towards the ground,

"It's time," Sohei stated through the silence, "Let's see if we can change those hollow feelings into something useful."

Natsu nodded in acknowledgement, and with one last look towards the sky, the mage turned his back and followed the monk into the temple to start a new life.

While Happy continued his journey toward to the guild, he only stopped for food and rest. The journey was a long one and during that time, the winged cat had tried to congregate some sort of script as to what exactly he would tell the others. Struggling to find the words to speak, the cat soon came up to familiar scenery and soon started to make out land marker's that he lived his life by. Whether it be the sea-food shop that sold the best fish or the tallest Sakura tree where he'd nap in the afternoons, all the locations, one by one, indicated he was almost at the guilds door step.

In what seems like moments the cat stood in front of the large double chamber doors, debated on the proper words to say. While he built up a small amount of courage, Happy was just about to attempt the doors when they swung open. Wendy and Carla walked through them with smiles on their faces; Carla took notice to the cat as an unimpressed smirk grew on her small face.

"Tom-cat, you're finally home." Carla stated as Wendy gushed "Welcome back, we missed you guys."

With Wendy's warm welcome announced, it wasn't long until Erza and Grey made their way toward the entrance. "You guys were gone a lot longer than usual; I'm assuming Natsu couldn't handle the train?" Erza asked as she acknowledged the cat then looked for the last two members of the small group.

"Geez, that idiot can't go anywhere without causing a fuss," Grey added while he looked for his sparring partner. "Where's Lucy?"

"Natsu is missing too," Erza commented, "it's not like them to not check back after a job."

The two mages stopped and looked towards the cat for answers, only to receive a saddened look and a shake of a head. "What happened?" Erza demanded.

"Natsu decided he didn't want to come back home." Happy replied as he held back a tear.

"Bout time he found himself a girl, and I thought all along it would have been Lucy." Grey joked. Looking back at the cat to see the depressed look, Grey knew something was wrong. As he kneeled toward the cat he asked, "What happened, He didn't do anything to Lucy, did he?"

Happy shook his head, "H-he couldn't save her," Happy replied as a tear fell from his large black eyes, "But he tried, he tried so hard to keep her safe Erza!"

"Whoa, calm down Happy, where is Lucy. What did Natsu try to do?" Erza asked with seriousness in her voice.

Once things were explained, Happy was brought to tears as the rest of the group stayed quiet. Unsure on what do to, Erza took the book Natsu instructed Happy to give her and started to study the notes. Unfortunately, the meanings behind the words were too cryptic to follow. As she forced the book closed the s-class mage announced, "We're going to find that idiot and drag him back."

"Oi, Oi. Didn't that idiot ask us to leave him be?" Grey asked with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"Tough," Erza replied, "You can't just dump all responsibility onto your friends. Happy, lead us to the temple-"

"He wanted to be on his own-" the cat cut-off the mage, "he didn't even want me there."

Taken back by the exceed's bold answer, Erza sighed. If things were that important to her friends that they would act out in such a way, then she'd humor them for the time being. As the red-head announced her plan, she explained that she would give Natsu a time limit, in which he doesn't return, she will go after him. In the meantime, she would have to sort out the information in the book and set up her own search for their lost comrade.

** End of Part 2**


	14. Chapter 14: Part 3: Wish you were here

**Part 3:**

**Chapter 14: Wish you were here – Cody Simpson ft. Becky G**

The season was mid-summer; Natsu had trained hard under his new master, the blind monk Sohei, for a chance to bring his partner home for the last eight months, while the guild Fairy Tail slowly started to lose hope over finding their lost comrade, but one mage never gave up hope. Erza kept her silent vow to the dragon slayer and tirelessly worked to find a way into the castle. With no word from Natsu after some time, Erza left the guild to hunt down the temple only to come up empty-handed. The abbot explained to the red-head that Natsu and Sohei have been away from the temple for several months. Erza left the old-man a letter which depicted several ways she would inflict massive amounts of physical damage to the dragon slayer unless he brought his 'ass' back to the guild.

Closer to home then what the equip mage realized; Natsu and Sohei found a new lead that rare magical items had started to disappear from Earthland. Out of impulse, Natsu took off from his trainer to find the next item that could be used to rematch the she-monk. One failed attempt after another, Natsu started to lose hope as the items diminished in quantity. On his way back to camp, the fire-eater picked up Lucy's scent. Blinded by adrenaline and excitement, the mage followed the invisible perfume all the way to the small apartment. As he destroyed the door handle and allowed himself into the pink flat, the mage scanned every room for any kind of clue that his partner was there. Disappointed, the mage sat on the dusty pink bed in defeat. Natsu threw his head into his hands and let a depressed sigh pass his lips.

_Lately I got this feeling; I don't know what's the meaning. But I know it's strong, and it's over you._

The mage relished in her scent and soon found himself calmed as he remembered in detail how her skin felt that morning she fell on top of him, how her hair smelt and the fun they had being together. Confused about his feelings for his partner, Natsu looked around the room as the summer sun started to set through the sheer curtains. Before long, Natsu built a small fort out of the pink sheets and finally closed his eyes as he napped in the sun. The moment of relaxation came to an end when the mage's onyx-green eyes snapped open to the sound of thunder. He knew it was time to leave. Reluctant to go, Natsu inhaled her scent once more and forced himself to investigate the rain as he left the small apartment in dismay.

_All I want is to be home with you._

After Natsu deemed the rain just an act of nature and not the castle, the mage started his journey once again to meet up with his blind teacher. As he walked up the mountain path towards the makeshift camp, the dragon slayer thought to himself, "Geez, this training better be worth it. It's been so long since I used magic," while he started to roll gauze around his hands.

Once Natsu was close to the stone arena located on the plateau of the mountain, the mage called out "Oi, Funny eyes. I'm-" Natsu hesitated, realizing that someone other than Sohei was in the area.

To examine the grounds of the stone maze, he retreated into the shadows. The mage soon picked out a scent which he hadn't recognized. Natsu quietly climbed a nearby boulder and peaked over its ledge. Not too far away, a stranger stood with a white robed back that faced the dragon slayer. The sight put Natsu into a mental rage as he realized who his opponent was.

On the balls of his feet, Natsu lunged towards the white robed person only to soon find an illusion was at work.

Anger filled the mage's head as he soon realized he got caught up in the moment, "First mistake, mage. Your enemy now has a front door key to your head," Sohei's voice called out.

Natsu looked up at the monk who sat cross-legged on a peak. Although blind, Natsu knew that Sohei still studied the fight.

"Illusion magic?" Natsu called out as he walked towards the monk.

"Not all opponents play by the same rules," Sohei replied as he pointed behind the mage toward a heavy set fighter who threw a superman punch toward Natsu. "Strike two, caught up in your emotions leaves you wide open for attack."

Turning just in time, Natsu grabbed the wrist of the fighter and slammed it into the earth, which left the ground dented.

Natsu brought himself upright before his opponent had time to recover, the mage defensively attacking the fighter's thighs in hopes of a submit.

"Going for the legs is a good tactic, but is he a monk from the temples in Northern Fiore?" Sohei's voices echoed in a haunting tone.

When Natsu left himself open, the man forced the mage back as he rammed a large shoulder into the Natsu's stomach, which Natsu caught just in time.

Hands forced onto the fighter's neck and shoulder, Natsu hoisted him out of harm's way and twisted his body mid-air in order to plunge a knee into the opponent's gut. Then just as quick, Natsu flipped his body over twice to gain some distance from his opponent.

The man coughed as he stood up right with a chilling smile as he dusted himself off then once again, and took off toward the mage with impressive speed for his bodyweight.

Natsu attempted to block the attack with a roll to his right, but his opponent grasped his ankle with bone cracking pressure and tossed the mage like a ragdoll.

Similar to a true aerial monk, the mage switched up his position midair to land on the side of a bolder in a crouched stance, while he held onto the ledge that kept him elevated from the battle ground.

Raking his brain for an answer, Natsu tried to remember which temple had what weakness. This opponent seemed to defy all theories, becoming a sort of super monk. Plus he could use magic which Natsu really didn't like.

Natsu lost his grip on the edge as his opponent started several aerial attacks.

Natsu defended himself while he once again guided every attack into different directions which left stone cracked.

Just as Natsu push-kicked the man with impressive force to gain distance away from the battle, the opponent seemed to flicker as he changed his appearance into the she-monk. He multiplied into fifty solid replicas. All who threatened to cause damage to the mage.

Natsu bowed his head towards his opponents. The nod was reciprocated. After a moment, the fighter started her onslaught of attacks towards the mage.

With a sea of copies, Natsu kept up his defence strategy as he took down one opponent at a time, turning them into dust.

"Quit hesitating. You have proven your control and defence," Sohei called out, "When you have no other way, you must use offence."

That was all the dragon slayer needed to hear. With a grin, Natsu folded his hands into tight fists and set his hands alight as he embraced in the reunion of his old friend.

The replicas faltered for a split second until, together, they rushed the mage.

Within the chaos, Natsu whispered an attack as his eyes started to glow with power. The flames flicked higher and higher until his entire body was engulfed in the heat. Letting the rage towards Ami get the better of him, the mage let out a massive explosion that pulsated to the beat of his heart.

After a solid ten seconds, the stone arena was cleared. All that was left was a charred stone chamber.

While he killed the flames, Natsu walked toward the earth-dome and inspected it. He found no entrance, cracks, or damage on the dome.

Natsu lit one fist aflame then plunged it into the chamber. The earth cracked like pottery as it crumbled piece by piece. Inside wasa monk in a prayer position. He seemed to be a few years older than Sohei and wore a different style robe which featured the colours of deep green, brown and grey. His golden brown eyes looked up at the mage and smiled. "What gave me away, young one?"

Natsu smiled back. "Figured you were too good to be true and I didn't like that."

"Mamoru here is a fighting-monk from the western temple. Located close to Fairy Tail actually," Sohei explained as he walked toward Natsu, staff in tow. "Since he resides in a temple whose element is earth, it's only natural that Mamoru's specialty is creating realistic copies out of clay then bringing thing them to life."

"That sounds amazing. I'd love to fight with you again," Natsu responded with excitement.

"But you already have," Mamoru replied as he raised himself off the ground. "You fight with such strong emotions. Unless you keep it under control it will be your downfall."

Natsu grinned in response as little sparks flickered out from his fists. "Man, it feels good to have this back."

"Who gave you permission to use magic?" Sohei asked cooly.

"You said not to ask permission," Natsu argued back, "Mama used magic."

"Mamoru and I meant for you to attack using martial arts," Sohei answered, "the lesson was to have your ass handed to you, but instead you learn a new spell."

"Which was great in power and creativity," Mamoru squeezed in, "I was impressed."

"Don't make his head swell, Mamoru."Sohei turned his head towards his monk-brother. "I just got it to a manageable size."

With the compliment, Natsu smiled a toothy grin as Mamoru continued, "Not only was it used at an appropriate time, but it was executed flawlessly for a new attack. I wonder how many more techniques he developed while under your guidance Sohei. You should be amazed."

"I'll be amazed when I don't have to see him again," Sohei replied in a monotone voice.

"Wait, you mean all along you could see me? Sorry for calling you funny eyes all this time."

Sohei shook his head at the comment, as his brother smiled. Shortly after Sohei ordered the hot-headed mage back into training as Mamoru took his place beside Sohei. "How long has Natsu been under your care, Sohei?"

"It will be eight months next week, but he needs another two. The idiot has no offensive skills outside of magic."

Mamoru laughed a thunderous hoot, "I will admit Sohei, I was shocked when you came by the temple the other day asking for my help. Training a mage as a monk is unheard of."

"Which is why I took him out here, he was just too flamboyant for the temple," Sohei replied as his milky eyes gazed towards the mage practicing several types of offensive strategy on a nearby boulder.

"I'm sure he will find her, Sohei." Mamoru replied in a soothing voice while he looked back towards the mage. "Do you want to step in, he's gonna' break his wrists soon."

Through the night, the elder monk watched Sohei and Natsu, he couldn't help but smile at while Sohei forced Natsu to learn how to use different defensive steps in order to achieve an offensive strike. At first Natsu simply followed Sohei's movements, but quickly became a mirror image of the monk.

After a few hours of shadow boxing, the sun started to rise over the mountains. Exhausted, Natsu collapsed onto the ground and took in deep breaths while Sohei gestured Mamoru over. "Tired huh?" Sohei commented, "If you want to sleep, you'll have to fight for it."

"Fight for it, with whom," Natsu asked as he propped himself onto his elbows, a devious smile painted on his face. "With you?" Natsu asked looking toward his teacher.

"If I recall correctly, you wanted a rematch with me," Mamoru replied as he stretched his arms, "No magic this time."

With a chuckle, Natsu raised himself back onto his feet. Once in position, Natsu's attention was distracted by a bolt of light that shot through the air, which led to a meek rumble of thunder.

_And right now I just wish you were here…_

"Ignore it Natsu. Rain was forecasted today, now pay attention to your opponent," Sohei shouted as he once again wacked his 'student' over the head. "Fight."

With one last look up to the sky, a rain drop fell onto the dragon slayer's nose. Before he could think much of it, the mage was forced to block several attacks. As the two started their bout, the stream or drops started to fall as lighting lit up the morning sky.

Up above the dark clouds, a castle made of iron, stone and magic started the day off with clear blue skies and a perfect sunrise. Witnessed to this perfect start to the day was a blonde celestial mage whose brown eyes scanned the sky. She embraced the warm summer air. Ami sat nearby with her back to the sun, cross-legged with her hands folded in her lap.

Finishing up her morning prayers, Ami looked towards her new cohort and smiled. "Ready?" Ami asked as she stood up from the ground.

_It's been too long since I've looked into your eyes, _

With a bright smile, Lucy nodded in agreement and rose to her feet as she closed her eyes and inhaled the wind. Through her exhale, the outline of a circle started to faintly glow underneath Lucy's feet. As her eyes opened, the lines of the circle became more vibrant and the wind started to pick up. "Good Lucy, now I want you to summon at least four spirits. Choose which wisely, last time you over did it and depleted your magic too quickly."

Ami circled the girl as she smiled with confidence that Lucy would be successful in summoning her four spirits. "Push yourself, or you'll never grow stronger."

With Ami's voice in her head, Lucy raised her hands out in front of her as the wind blew harder through her hair and robes. Within a single moment, the wind stopped dead as the mage's keys shot out from the holster. While they danced around the mage, each key glistened in the sun as they waited for their master's call.

Resolute in her decision, Lucy called out, "Open gates of the golden bull, the giant crab, the archer, the maiden, and the ram. Taurus, Cancer, Sagittarius, Virgo and Aries!"

Ami was taken back at Lucy's bold move. "Impressive, but I wonder if you will be able to pull Aries out. She one of your more advanced keys out of the five that you summoned."

As the five keys shot themselves in front of their master, one by one each spirit started to form until all that was left was the key of the ram. Lucy pushed herself into overdrive and forced the gate open long enough for Aries to manifest in front of her. Once the summoning was finished, the circle disappeared and the remainder of the keys filed themselves back into the holster. With an exhausted smile, Lucy breathed a sigh of relief, "I did it."

Falling to her knees, Sagittarius called out "Lucy-domo," as he caught his master before she fell onto the grass. "Are you alright, Moshimoshi?"

"No mooooo-re of that, Lucy," Taurus begged as he forced his axe into the ground.

"That was a dangerous move, Ebi," Cancer added while he kneeled onto the grass with concern.

"But the princess was able to summon five of us this time, she's stronger than before," Virgo added as she too sat next to Lucy.

As Lucy thanked her spirits she wiped the sweat off her brow when she realized she missed a spirit. "Where's Aries?" Lucy asked as Taurus helped her off the ground.

After a short search, Lucy finally found the ram spirit who sported a sad face, "Aries?"

"I'm sorry!" the ram shouted out as she ran into her master's arm, "I'm so sorry that you had such a difficult time summoning me."

"No its ok, just by being yourself is helping me get stronger. All of you are." Lucy smiled as she hugged her pink haired spirit. "I want to be a master worthy to call all of you my friends."

"Ok, ok. We get it; you all will do anything for each other." Ami broke up the love fest."You were lucky this time Lucy. If your magic would have run out, Aries here would have been caught in between the gates."

Ami explained to Lucy that the reason most celestial spirit mages on Earthland don't summon more than two spirits is not just because they would put their lives at risk, but if a spirit isn't fully pulled through the gate, they could be lost forever, which would turn their key black.

"Now, since your spirits are out and are using your magic to be in the human world, your next step is to keep them out for as long as you can," Ami explained.

"That shouldn't be too hard for Lucy-domo," Sagittarius replied.

"No it shouldn't be." Ami cracked her knuckles and charged for the group, with an attack aimed for Lucy.

Last minute the monk crouched down and swung her leg out to trip her mage opponent.

As Lucy fell backwards into Taurus's arms, Aries became startled and called out, "Wool Bomb" by accident.

Pink smoke filled the area which caught Lucy and the other spirits in the attack. "Sorry!" Aries cried out as she realized everyone disappeared in the cloud.

Lucy was quickly found and Ami wasted no time in her attacks. She threw punch after punch while Lucy took each attack as she walked backwards. "You can't keep taking hits forever," Ami shouted.

As if on cue, Lucy caught Ami's arms and forced them apart as she slammed her hands against the monk's chest which pushed her back.

Lucy repeated this move once more. She fell to her knee and swung her leg to trip Ami.

Ami saw the attack and bend over backwards as she twisted her body out of the way. Before the monk could stand up right, Lucy was already within range for the next attack as she forced her elbow underneath Ami's chin to push the monk back.

Lucy disappeared into the smoke as she called out, "Sagittarius, use your arrows."

The spirit obeyed his command and shot blindly into the smoke, clearing it as the Ami back flipped her way out of range, right into Taurus's direction. "Taurus-"

"No need to ask twice, mooo," the spirit replied as he dropped his axe onto the Ami who caught the blade mid-back flip.

Ami swung her right leg over and landed it onto the handle of the axe, which she then used her body weight in attempt to bury it into the ground.

Ami's right leg swung over to land onto the handle of the axe. The momentum of her body weight buried it into the ground. The ground rumbled and shook as Virgo emerged from the dirt, throwing the monk off balance.)

"Cancer, you turn!"

Ami frantically tried to doge the scissor attack, but was grazed a few times by the blades which caused the hair tie holding her brown hair up to snap.

In the crab's shadow, Lucy jumped into the battle once again and grabbed onto Ami's wrist. Lucy forced it out in front of Ami then used the length of the arm as a guide while she raised her body onto one foot, using the spare to complete a round house kick which forced the monk to bow down.

"Ok now grab onto my shoulders and thrust your knee into my stomach,"

Following the suggestion, Lucy took a grip onto the monks left shoulder as she kept her body weight on top of Ami and forced her right knee into Ami's torso.

Ami used her forearms and absorbed the impact. After the third knee, Lucy attempted to throw her right elbow into Ami's jawline. Before the blonde could make impact, Ami stopped the motion and kicked Lucy's legs out from under her.

Lucy lay on the grass as she panted, soon after Ami joined her on the grassy plain and laughed. "Who'd think that a mage with high defence skills could be so easily taught northern temple offense? But your defence sucks."

Lucy smiled as she sat up and dusted herself off, looking towards her spirits she smiled. "Great job."

"Princess, if you are finished, we should return," Virgo commented.

Lucy looked back at Ami who shrugged her shoulders. "If you want to go another round…"

Lucy evaluated her magic level then rose to her feet. After a moment the mage decided, "Once more. This time I won't let you win."

With a devious smile, Ami rose to her feet and bowed to her opponent then to the spirits. "You can take a hit Lucy, but I suggest we work on defending that pretty face of yours."

"Fight."


	15. Chapter 15: You'll be in my Heart

**Chapter 15: You'll be in my heart – Phill Colins**

"Great work, Lucy. You'll start summoning eight keys in no time," Ami complimented the mage while seated in the long grass. "And remember that prayer I taught you, it might come in handy in a sticky situation."

Whilst the two girls rested under the warm summer sun, Lucy realized that after all the time they spent together, the monk had yet used her keys in battle. Curiosity loomed over the blonde as she asked, "Ami, we've been sparring partners for months now, how come you don't use any spirits?"

Ami smiled to herself as she looked at the mage, "You are terrible at digging for information. I know Tomo told you a few things."

"She may have mentioned something," Lucy answered in a sheepish tone, "but I wanted to learn more about you and your spirits."

Ami sighed as she rummaged through her bag. The monk pulled out two potions and tossed one to Lucy whom simply whined, "Common I won the last three sets, that has to be good for something."

Ami looked at the girl whose stare begged for a story. The monk contemplated to herself as a light breeze fluttered around them. "My name is Asami Celest and I-"

"Thee Asami Celest? No way that's true." Lucy squealed with excitement which left Ami's expression unimpressed. "The last of the Celest family died off thirty years ago."

The Celest family were the original inventors of key magic. Only direct decedents within this bloodline have the ability to create new spirits, keys and magic that can be used by Celestial Spirit mages. Due to a suspicious accident that occurred thirty years ago, the bloodline ended at the death of Kai and Rika Celest along with their eight children.

"So the rumors were true, one of you did survive." Lucy exclaimed, "I always thought it was the youngest son."

Ami sighed, "Guess the speculations were half right."

Lucy watched the monk through excited eyes. When Ami confirmed that she was the youngest Celest sibling, the news filled the mage with an urgency to learn more. "Did your parents create the Chinese zodiac when you were born or was it something you created or maybe they were already created but just fell into your command or-"

"I don't possess the ability to summon spirits." Ami released from her lips.

Lucy stopped, "W-what, how are you a Celest if-"

"I just carry the Chinese Zodiac keys. My mother was their last suitable master."

Ami explained that when a child is born without the ability to summon spirits, tradition states that the child should die. Rika lost her only brother to this tradition and nobody outside the family ever knew about the extreme measures within the bloodline. Even Kai, who married into the family, was kept in the dark. Determined to put a stop to the madness, Rika pronounced her daughter Asami a late bloomer.

"But typically when a Celest child is born, the magic that is within their body slowly starts to manifest it's self into twelve unique spirits. Nobody knows what the spirits will be until the child summons them on their tenth birthday. Then the child gains the ability to create new spirits."

When the spirits master dies, the keys would be scattered across Earthland in hopes to find new mages to serve. Over the years a few keys were lost, some have turned black and many had found new masters. "Lucy, your Zodiac keys were once owned by my Father," Ami explained as she eyed up Lucy's holster. "Tomo is master to one of my mother's creations, Yuka's belonged to my sister and I can continue to list the connections of most keys up here."

"But Ami, shouldn't the spirits should know you," Lucy stated as she pulled the holster from her belt, "There must be some kind of mark on you."

"I was too young for them to notice and because I don't have the ability to summon them, they don't recognize me as a member or a Celestial Spirit mage." Ami commented as she gazed over the gold and silver keys that glittered in Lucy's hand.

When Ami was two, a young mage came to the Celest household and expressed how unfair society was to the mages whom possessed the celestial spirit magic and since Celestial magic was one of the first styles ever created, they should be the strongest on Earthland and treated like royalty. As decedents, Rika and the eldest children could create stronger spirits that would never fail in both strength and power. The mage continued to explain, "Who wants to be great in defence when power is most appealing."

While the man talked about the potential power each mage could hold if a perfect society was created, he explained that they could rule the magic world and never have to answer to anyone. "Never again will we feel insignificant to the styles whose only ability is to throw a punch or create an element," the young mage exclaimed.

Kai tried to explain to the reckless mage that a style of magic should not be compared to a guild or be changed due to a petty fight. True the Celestial Spirit mage's strength is within defence but that's just the nature of the style, the strength of the spirit comes from its master alone. To band together and become this one force would cause an imbalance within the world and potentially start a war. The mage argued with Kai by explaining that he already found the castle ruins where Rika's ancestors once lived. Surely there must be some untapped magic source that will give their style the physical strength needed to rule. But the mage was cut short once again by Kai who explained that the castle became a ruin for a reason, "If the ancestors left, they must have found a better way to live their lives. Our style is already an outcast within the magic world but many mages, guilds, and societies accept us for our abilities."

Rika agreed as she added, "We will not endanger that bond just to become the strongest style of magic on Earthland."

"I remember that day well because my older sister used her sprit to show off an attack, but it back fired and cut most of my hair off." Ami chuckled as she rubbed her head, "now that I think of it, Seto must have had been about fifteen at the time. My parents already banned him from summoning spirits, yet he still had the gull to approach them and talk about this place." Ami looked around the grassy plains then up toward the castle.

A few days after Seto's visit, the family would be awakened by a terrible fire set to the local village. In attempts to help, Kai and Rika left for the village while the children stayed behind in the house. Little did the parents know that Seto waited close by until their departure then set their home aflame with the children still inside. When Kai and Rika herd the news they fled back to their home but were met with the horrific sight of their house half aflame and Seto on the front steps. Rika ran into the home in search of the children while Kai engaged in a fight with the mage. Just as he was about to summon a spirit, Kai was hit with a spell which depleted him of all his magic. "What good is defence when the very thing that protects you is gone?" asked Seto in a chilling voice.

"We were trying to escape the house but we had no magic. The lower floors were already bathed in flames so we all huddled into my parents' room and prayed that someone would find us, but nobody did. My brothers and sisters all died as they fell asleep and soon after, flashes of light left the house like shooting stars…" Ami shared as a tear fell from her steel-grey eyes.

When Rika reached the children and the horror that awaited her, the mage fell to her knees. No words could describe a mother's tears; no words could heal a broken heart. A dream is gone, but where there's hope as a small face appeared from under the smoky wisps. Rika desperately gestured for the child to come to her as Asami forced her small body to crawl under the smoke into her mother's grasp. Rika tried to plan an escape from the flames but in a moment of panic, the mage pulled at one of the drawers close by which held her children's documents. Knowing that Asami's documents was close to the top of the pile, Rika grabbed the papers and forced the white sheets into her daughters' sweater along with a round holster then started for the hallway. By some chance, mother and child made it through the inferno by climbing out a window located at the back of the house. Once free from the fire, Rika tried to run as far from the house as she could but only to be blocked off by Seto, who fashioned a deadly smile.

"Kai-"

"Is dead in a ditch somewhere, defence isn't all it's cracked up to be is it Rika?"

Rika took one last look at her daughter. As a few tears fell from her eyes she whispered, "When destiny calls you little one, you must be strong. I may not be with you, but you got to hold."

When Rika looked toward Seto, she started to chant a spell as twelve keys appeared around her with a glow that could have been mistaken for stars. One eventually rose up above the rest as it summoned its self into battle.

"We'll show them together Asami," Rika spoke with a smiled as her eyes started to glow, "You'll be in my heart from this day on, now and forever."

"And last thing I remember was a lion with an orange mane caring me up the stone steps to the temple. He was so beaten up, I'm shocked he had the energy to ring the bell and alert the monks." Ami said, as she reminisced over the memory. "After the bell was sounded he fell to his knees and sat me down on the front step. Not once did he say anything to me, he just stared through broken sunglasses with such a confused and hurt expression then disappeared in a bolt of light, like the others."

Lucy rubbed her face as she pulled Loke's key out and thought to herself, '_That's how you knew her._'

"My mother was able to summon my father's keys before they scattered but I'm not sure if she died because she summoned all twelve spirits, or if it was Seto." Ami paused, "one thing I do know, nobody knew the truth until now."

Changing the mood of the conversation, Ami continued the story by explaining to Lucy that thanks to the rain, she started her new life as a boy named Ami. Close to the same time she was brought into the temple, she met her partner and best friend, "Although we didn't like each other much. Now that I think of it, we have nothing in common. I guess that's why we mesh so well."

"You mean Sohei, right?" Lucy asked as her interest peaked.

"You know before he was blind, he had a unique shade of green eyes. Almost like jade mixed with pea-cock feathers."

"Huh, sounds like you were attracted to him." Lucy egged on.

Ami rolled her eyes at the mage's statement. When they were children, Ami and Sohei very rarely talked with each other. It wasn't until they both became fighting monks that they even acknowledged each other's existence, but even then it was minimal.

"Things were good until he found out about this." Ami laughed as she gestured to her body, "The jerk tried to play a prank on me but accidently saw my secret while I was changing my robes. He kept the incident to himself, until a similar incident happed and the rest of the temple found out."

With the news on how easily Ami was found out, Lucy shook her head in disappointmentwhile Ami continued the story and explained that Sohei was skilled in manipulation. "He had this physic ability to put his opponent in a trance then control their movements," Ami bragged, "But he never mastered it."

Sohei was also an expert at manipulating the wind and gravity to his needs, such as walking on water and creating shields. While each monk had their own unique style, they both were also classified as experts in aerial combat and defence. As the two monks grew up they became close to each other and were considered two of the best fighters in the temple. Naturally they went out on missions together and it was during the time away from the temple that Ami kept up to date with the world news, she knew Seto would be looking for her and it would only be a matter of time till he succeeded.

"One day I read in the papers about some mages disappearing and strange sightings being witnessed close by. I knew it had to have been Seto so I rushed back to the temple and packed up my stuff. Neither the abbot nor my brothers knew who I was. I decided that leaving before anyone got hurt was the only option to avoid an altercation."

Naturally Sohei tried to stop her and threatened to tag along but after a massive argument, Ami left alone and wasn't seen until Seto came to the temple and, like he did before, attacked with strange magic leaving Ami to cause her partner's blindness and ultimately her surrender.

"You willingly came up here?" Lucy asked.

Ami didn't answer, she just sat in the wind and relived each painful memory over and over again. It was only after a year or two of being on the island that Seto realized Ami's handicap, yet he still refused to let her go. "He kept me as a trophy. But you know if there ever was a time for me to use these," Ami pulled out her holster which contained the keys to the Chinese zodiac, "It would have been to save my partner."

Lucy watched the monk relive her nightmares with sympathy, "We need to make a plan to get out of here."

"How do we go about that? We can't leave and hardly anyone can get in," Ami stated. "We can't even send word to anyone down below."

With a smile Lucy winked at the monk as she explained that she already sent word, her message in a bottle.

"That's idiotic where could you have possibly dropped it from up here? It could be years until someone finds it."

"Someone will find it," Lucy said with confidence. "What if you dropped messages when you're on Earthland?"

"It's an idea but how does one drop messages when she's under a trance?" Ami asked. "Ya'know if I ever did leave this place I imagine that I'd return to the temple and shave my head in repentance, don't know how I'd face Sohei after all I've done to him."

"All this time he has been looking for you," Lucy commented as she stood up from the grass, "To bring you home so you can laugh together, eat together, go on jobs together and just be together-"

"Is he worth it," Ami cut off the blonde. "Your partner, He's the one you're talking about right now, isn't he?"

Lucy stopped her train of thought as Ami laugh out, "So that's what it looks like when you fall for someone precious. " With a grin, Ami continued, "Have you kissed him yet?"

With a bright red face, Lucy started to quickly walk away leaving the monk to call out with a laugh, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You make it too easy sometimes. Lucy-"

"Ami!" a voice called out that Lucy soon recognized as one of the first few mages brought to the island.

Distracted, Ami turned her attention to the voice and glanced at her with a confused gaze, "H-hey, am I late for something?"

"You sure are," the mage replied. "You were supposed to be in the training area with the rest of us an hour ago, remember?"

Realization washed over the monk as she apologized and started for the castle. Looking back at the blonde mage Ami called out, "No more bottled messages, I'll check in with you later."

When Ami and the other mage departed, they left Lucy to search the island for anything that could help aid in her escape. Dogging her way past impressive spirits, Lucy admired the strength and ability of their masters as they commanded each attack. As she continued her search, Lucy couldn't help but think of the differences between a spirit mage on Earthland and a spirit mage on the island. When Lucy returns to the guild will she still be able to summon most of her spirits in one go or will she lose the ability all together. "Maybe Seto was right and the castle does have an untapped power source."

"How else do you explain everyone growing stronger so quick?" a man's voice politely added.

Lucy looked over her shoulder to witness a handsome man sitting on a tree stump. His short brown hair aged with streaks of whiteish-blonde and pale skin gleamed in the sunlight as it created a flawless look, disguising his age. His ill-fitting long sleeve shirt hung loosely over his broad shoulders which was caused by chains and brooches that hung from the fabric. Lucy smiled at the male, "hard work and determination to leave this place?"

The man chuckled to himself as he played with a pendant, gaze toward the ground, "great motivation."

"I'm sure that I'm not the only one who thinks so," Lucy smiled. "I'm Lucy from Magnolia."

"Nice to make your acquaintance," the man replied as he slowly turned his eyes up to the blonde, "Although I'm sure you already know who I am." He replied as the unique shade of green eyes looked back at her.

As Lucy looked into the jade coloured orbs, she was taken back as she answered, "Seto."

A smile grew across Seto's lips as he stood up from the tree stump, necklaces and bracelets clanking together as he moved. "You herd of me. Or perhaps I owe a thank-you to Asami."

As Seto walked closer to Lucy, the mage could finally see the man who created a real life nightmare. Dressed in mostly black with dark wash jeans and untied boots, Seto was adorned in a large amount of jewelry that shined like a suit of armour. Lucy recognized a few pieces as items which went missing on Earthland over the years and knew that each piece was enchanted with some sort of deadly spell. '_That's probably why he looks so young, Seto should be in his mid-forty's by now,_' Lucy thought.

While Lucy forced herself to stay strong, she couldn't help but remember the terrible stories Ami shared. This man was a murderer of the Celest bloodline and even though he was not a spirit mage, he was still powerful. Unsure if she should attack or run, Lucy stood still as she took in the image of the man whom she's herd stories about. When Seto started to circle Lucy, she couldn't help but place a hand on her holster. What did this meeting have in store for the mage from Fairy Tail.


End file.
